Tuesday January 9, 2001
A persistent speeder may face
jail after hitting an elderly pedestrian and driving for two miles with the
man's body wedged in his sun roof.
Unemployed Craig Gant told police he was too scared even to look round when
he felt his victim's lifeless arm brush his shoulder as he accelerated on to a
pub, where he had arranged to have a drink.
Hazel Darnton, prosecuting, told Wakefield magistrates the case was the worse
example of failing to stop after an accident she had encountered. The victim's
injuries were "more consistent with a motorway accident than a crash on an
urban road."
Retired hospital porter Tadeusz Rogala, 74, was flung on to the windscreen
and then rolled on to the roof as Gant's uninsured Honda Accord careered through
a 30mph zone in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Mr Rogala was crossing the road, said Ms Darnton. "Mr Rogala's left leg
was severed below the knee. Mr Gant returned to the scene of the accident but it
appears he then did a u-turn to continue his journey to the pub."
Police received calls reporting a car with a body on the roof. They went to
the pub at Horbury, near Wakefield, and found Gant drinking inside with his
father. The car was parked outside with Mr Rogala's body still jammed in place.
Gant, of Crofton near Wakefield, admitted careless driving, failing to stop
and driving without insurance as well as breaking the speed limit for the third
time in four years. The court heard that he had been disqualified from driving
in November 1996 and had received two fixed penalties since getting his lisence
back.
Julie Allott, defending, said Gant had panicked after the accident and had
been traumatised after the tragedy. He told police he had slowed down and tried
to avoid Mr Rogala, who was on his way to a Jehovah's Witness meeting, but hit
him when the pensioner started to run across the road.
"I was crying out for my dad. I did not know what to do. I carried on
driving." He had felt something on his shoulder but dared not look until he
reached the pub, more than two miles away, where he "totally freaked
out".
The magistrates adjourned the case for three weeks for pre-sentence reports.
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