Declan Osborne: Driver 'twice speed limit' when he hit teenage moped rider, jury told
A man taking a test drive in a car he wanted to buy was travelling at twice the speed limit moments before ploughing into a teenage moped rider, a jury heard.
Danny Dale had just overtaken a car and did not see 16-year-old Declan Osborne, who was preparing to make a right turn, until it was too late, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The Honda Civic struck the scooter, cannoned into a wall and spun back into Birmingham Road at its junction with Macmillan Road, Rowley Regis.
The 26-year-old defendant ran away from the scene without checking the condition of the seriously-injured victim and did not hand himself in to police until three days after the January 30 2016 crash, it was said.
Declan received a broken leg, fractured jaw and eye socket, bruised lungs and a brain injury, from which he still suffers, the court heard.
Mr Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, told the jury: “There is no dispute that Danny Dale was driving the Honda when it hit the moped that Declan was riding.
The issue is whether the defendant was driving dangerously and we say you will be certain of that having heard the evidence.”
Analysis of CCTV footage showed the Honda was going at 60mph in a 30 zone around 200 metres before the impact, continued the prosecutor.
Front-seat passenger Jonathan Mundle had allowed his girlfriend’s car to be driven by Dale, whom he had known for six years.
He explained: “I said he could have it for £3,000. He wanted a test drive.
"His driving was perfectly OK for five or ten minutes but then he went mad and reached speeds of 70 to 80mph. I could see the speedometer.
"It was not safe to overtake on that stretch of road but he did. I told him to slow down and take it easy but he did not really do that.
“I first saw the moped when it was two car lengths in front of us.
"I saw the indicator bulb flashing, said ‘indicator, brake’ and braced myself, because I knew what was going to happen. He braked hard. The next thing I remember was a loud bang.”
Mr Mundle suffered head injuries and recovered consciousness to discover Dale had fled before leaving the scene himself, only to return soon afterwards and talk to police investigating the incident. “I panicked,” he admitted.
Dale, of Habberley Road, Blackheath denies causing serious injury to Declan Osborne by dangerous driving.
The case continues.
