Minicab driver cleared of causing death by careless driving A MINICAB driver who struck a pedestrian in Kingsbury has been cleared of causing death by careless driving.
Wahidullah Hoori, 41, had just turned off Edgware Road in Kingsbury when his 05-reg Seat Alambra people carrier hit Barry Southgate as the slow-moving 64-year-old crossed Kingsbury Road, at 11.50pm on April 11 2012.
Mr Southgate, of Theobald Crescent, Harrow, died nine days later from his injuries at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London.
Hoori denies causing death by careless driving and is standing trial at Wood Green Crown Court in north London.
Prosecutor Nicholas Bleaney told jurors: "The prosecution say he should have seen him and had plenty of opportunity to see him and Mr Southgate was doing nothing dramatic.
"He was walking along at a relatively slow, pedestrian speed - something any driver in any part of the country, particularly in London, has to deal with all the time.
"He did not suddenly come out from behind a tree and his movements, we say, were pretty obvious.
"Speed isn't an issue. The turn was conducted at a normal speed.
"The accident, we say, was caused by carelessness.
"He (Hoori) should have stopped in time to avoid a collision or at the very least swerved to avoid him."
Mr Southgate had helped plaster a wall at a friend's house before he and his friend went for a drink at The Moon Under Water in Varley Parade, The Hyde in Colindale, where the victim drank two pints of real ale.
His bus home sped past as the two left the pub and so Mr Southgate, who was also known as Barry O'Reilly, decided at 11.30pm to walk down Edgware Road and had just turned the corner into Kingsbury Road when he was hit by the nearside front grill of Hoori's minicab.
Mr Bleaney said the defendant made a statement to police that he had been working since 2pm on the day of the collision, that he had had a day off the previous day and had consumed neither alcohol or drugs before the crash.
Witness Raluca Frunza told the court: "I saw the old man. He was on the other side of the road.
"He was walking really slowly because he was on crutches. He was not using [the traffic island] to cross the road.
"I heard a noise like a metal-to-metal noise and heard a male scream, a yell, and then I realised that the car had hit the old man.
"I saw a lot of blood on the floor."
She described Mr Southgate as "a chunky man, overweight, with a big belly, grey messy hair and a great beard".
The trial of Hoori, of Raccoon Way, Hounslow, who using a Pashtu interpreter, continues.
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