Fatal crash trial - final statements to the jury

Minesh Parbat, 36, of Gregory Close, Maidenbower, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

Parbat’s girlfriend Lisa Watling, from Langley Green, died of her injuries after the crash on the A2011 Crawley Avenue on March 9 last year.

A jury at Lewes Crown Court has heard that he was over the drink drive limit when the crash happened.

Prosecutor Philip Meredith told the jury that to convict Parbat of causing death by dangerous driving, they must be sure that his driving was well below the standard expected of a competent driver.

However, he said that the jury are ‘entitled as people of common sense to take it as read’ that anyone driving over the alcohol limit must be dangerous.

“And he’s admitted in evidence that he felt inebriated,” he added.

“So there it is, plain as a pikestaff from him that he was.”

This, Mr Meredith said, would explain the oversteering, first to the left, then to the right, that caused the car to spin off the road.

Miss Watling’s injuries, he said, suggested that she had been sitting in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.

“Not with her bum on the dashboard, sideways on to Mr Parbat, with her necklace dangling in his eye.

“Her benign, pre-existing condition was under control,” he said, referring to an intercranial hypertension she was being treated for.

“The shunt, at post mortem, was found to be in full working order.”

He accused Parbat of trying to dodge responsibility by blaming his late girlfriend.

“He’s saying it’s not down to me - he’s the driver, but he’s saying it’s down to her. He’s blaming the woman that’s no longer with us, that he purports to love.”

Richard Cherrill, defending, asked the jury not to let the tragedy of what had happened influence their judgement.

“You will be very careful to avoid arriving at your decision under the influence of sympathy, in any direction.

“The defendant’s lost his girlfriend, of whom we would say he was extremely fond. They were in the early stages of a relationship that, if he was right, appeared to be flourishing in spite of enormous difficulties.”

He said the forensic reconstructions could tell with a ‘high probability’ what had happened, but were not necessarily enough to allow the jury to be sure.

Talking about Parbat and Miss Watling’s state of undress when they were found, he said: “It’s clearly odd, and it’s clearly an example of adolescent behaviour.”

Responding to prosecution claims that Parbat had shown no sympathy or remorse at his girlfriend’s death, he referred back to police accounts of speaking to him at the scene just after he regained consciousness.

“His first questions were to know where Lisa was, and whether she was ok,” he said. “Does that suggest that he’s the callous and uncaring person that the prosecution would like you to believe he is?”

Parbat denies the charge. The trial continues.

NOTE: This newspaper would like to remind its readers that this is an ongoing trial in a court of law. You have a responsibility to adhere to the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ rule of British Law. This page is not monitored all day, every day and as such you have a responsibility as publishers to abide by contempt of court laws. You are liable for prosecution should you break the law. Thank you. Editor, Gary Shipton

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