13 March 2024 , 14:57
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A drug driver who knocked down a great-grandfather before he died has told a court he felt "no effects" from taking cocaine.
Dale Hilton, 42, of Wrexham, North Wales, denies causing death by careless driving in a Citroen C2 car when under the influence of a drug on March 2, 2022.
Mold Crown Court has heard George Ian Stevenson, 86, was knocked over by a “glancing” blow from the car. But he spent four hours lying in the road waiting for an ambulance to arrive from south Gwynedd, and died after going into cardiac arrest.
Dad-of-three Hilton told his counsel Brendan O’Leary he hadn’t felt any effects of the cocaine when driving. Mr Stevenson had been crossing the road at Johnstown and he assumed the pensioner had seen his car.
There was a bang and in his mirror he saw Mr Stevenson lying on the road. The pensioner had massive chest trauma, a pathologist found. Cross-examined by prosecutor John Philpotts yesterday about how much cocaine he had taken, Hilton replied: “Not a lot.”
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The prosecutor has said the cocaine breakdown product in his blood was almost five times the legal limit. Mr Philpotts suggested to Hilton: ”You had plenty of time to avoid him.” Hilton insisted: ”No.”
Mr Stevenson was struck while walking along High Street in Johnstown, Wrexham (Hadyn Iball / Daily Post Wales)The defendant said mud hadn’t obscured his windscreen view and he was doing about 18mph at the time of the collision. Before they retired to consider their verdict, the jury were told by Judge Niclas Parry: ”Put any feelings of sympathy or disapproval to one side.”
In his closing speech, Mr Philpotts added: ”It’s an emotive and shocking state in 2022 an ambulance took so long to attend to an elderly gentleman who had been knocked over on a March evening. But that’s a bit of a red herring. Albeit, it’s shocking, it doesn’t alter the fact Mr Stevenson wouldn’t have died had he not been knocked over.
“A competent and careful driver would have avoided the collision.” He alleged: ”It’s momentary carelessness.”
Mr O’Leary urged the jury to look beyond the drugs and examine the “wider evidence”. He said there was no evidence of erratic driving. “When you look at the actual evidence there’s simply not enough for you to be sure that the defendant drove carelessly,” counsel declared.
The trial continues.