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Taxi Woman 'Drove over Man Lying in Road'
A woman taxi driver who drove over a man lying in the road went on trial today for causing death by dangerous driving.
Paula Boult, 36, did not stop after driving over victim Michael Harkin, who lay down in the road at around 3.30am, an Exeter Crown Court jury was told.
Boult, of Vuefield Hill, Exeter, denies causing death by dangerous driving last May 1.
Prosecutor Martin Edmunds said it was not known why Mr Harkin, 34, who had been drinking, lay down in the road in the city’s Holloway Street.
He claimed Boult, who was on her way back into the city from her last fare of the night, drove in her Peugeot 406 over the victim, dragged him along the road for 20 metres and did not stop.
The prosecutor said the section of road was very well lit and Mr Harkin would have been “highly visible.”
“If she had been keeping any sort of lookout at all he would have been in view in the road for just under 100 metres,” said Mr Edmunds.
Only a few minutes before, while carrying her fare away from the city, she had encountered Mr Harkin in the road in Holloway Street and stopped and drove around him.
Shortly after Mr Harkin was run over, Boult and her car were seen by colleague Christie Wilson, who came across the body in Holloway Street and stopped her taxi to assist.
She telephoned Boult, who returned to the scene but “at no stage did she admit to anybody it was her who drove over Mr Harkin,” said the prosecutor.
After her arrest, Boult said in a statement to the police that she did not see Mr Harkin until she drove over him.
Mr Edmunds told the jury that Boult did not set out to harm anybody, but if she had approached the scene as a competent and careful driver she would have had ample opportunity to avoid “this tragedy”.
He added: “Anyone keeping a lookout would not have driven over that man,” he said.
The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.
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