Man who ran over his ex three times found guilty of trying to kill her
JURY REJECTS DEFENDANT’S CLAIM HE ONLY INTENDED TO INJURE
A FURIOUS driver who ran over his ex-girlfriend three times has been convicted by a jury of attempted murder.
Zack Coleman claimed he only intended breaking the bones of the 23-year-old mother of his boy and denied he was trying to kill her.
A Leicester Crown Court jury of six men and six women took just over six hours to convict him on a majority verdict of 10-2.
When the guilty verdict was announced ashen-faced Coleman, 26, sat down, clasping both hands together.
During the trial the court heard how Coleman ran over the victim with his Ford Kuga.
The injured victim was unable to move out of the way when she heard the sound of the car returning to drive over her again.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said.
The incident happened on Sturdee Green, in Sturdee Road, Eyres Monsell, at 11.18am on December 3, 2019.
Coleman’s victim had earlier ignored him when he pulled up in his car as she walked to a bus stop in Aylestone Road, at just after 11am.
She took a bus to Sturdee Road, where Coleman was already waiting for her.
When she heard him shouting she went on to the green, thinking she would be safe, but he drove on to the grass and ran over her.
Coleman turned around and drove over her a second time as she lay on the ground and then repeated the action a third time.
The woman suffered collapsed lungs, internal bleeding, a lacerated spleen, a dislocated hip and shoulder, 13 broken ribs, a fractured arm and damage to her kidneys and pancreas. She needed several operations.
The victim did not attend court, but her statement was read out saying she had ended a seven-month relationship with Coleman before giving birth to their son in late 2018.
He had previously threatened to run her over and she obtained a restraining order banning him from contacting her.
She said in her statement: “Zack came at me very fast. He was deliberately driving towards me while I was stood on the green.”
Describing what happened after she had been run over once, she said: “I could hear the sound of the vehicle’s engine coming closer but I was helpless, I couldn’t move.
“I then felt the vehicle driving over me, straight across my body.
“I was thinking I was going to die. I was struggling to breathe and could feel pain, going in and out of consciousness.”
She did not recall being run over a third time.
Coleman, of Auburn Road, Blaby, told the jury he was angry because his ex-partner was refusing to speak to him that morning and because his son had received an unexplained arm injury, which he blamed her for.
Coleman told the jury he was autistic and in 2018 had one of his legs amputated below the knee, after being run over by a bin lorry when working as a refuse collector.
He was driving a specially adapted automatic Ford Kuga when he ran over the victim in “a moment of madness” he said he regretted and for which could not forgive himself.
He said he was unsure if she was dead or alive when he drove from the scene, but still loved her and had not intended taking her life.
After the verdict was announced, Judge Philip Head adjourned the case for the preparation of psychiatric and pre-sentence reports to assess the defendant’s risk of dangerous behaviour.
Prosecutor James Varley said a recent personal impact report revealed the victim was no longer confined to a wheelchair.
He said: “She seems to have made a good physical recovery, although there are some problems, and she speaks about her ongoing anxiety, but she is resilient.”
Coleman is due to be sentenced on March 8.