Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Driver on trial for ‘deliberately driving’ into group of people
A MAN who is accused of deliberately driving into a group of pedestrians, leaving two in critical condition in hospital, has appeared at the Old Bailey.
Choudry Razaq, 24, has been charged with four counts of attempted murder after four men were seriously injured during the alleged hit-and-run in West London.
Emergency services were called to at 2.43am on Sunday, September 25, to reports that four pedestrians had been struck by a car in Kingsley Road, near the junction of Taunton Avenue in Hounslow.
The four men, all in their early 20s, were rushed to hospital, with two in critical condition while the others were treated for non lifethreatening injuries. The driver did not stop at the scene and Razaq was later arrested at Heathrow Airport after booking a flight to leave the country.
He was charged with four counts of attempted murder and driving while disqualified while the Metropolitan Police said that two other men had been arrested.
One was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and has been bailed pending further inquiries while another man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and has been released under investigation.
Appearing on October 25 via video link from HMP Belmarsh, Razaq spoke to confirm his identity before reading aloud a letter to request a change in his appointed solicitor.
Addressing the court, Judge Nigel Lickley KC said: “It is alleged that this defendant, for whatever reason, decided to go into a vehicle and deliberately drove into four people which had nothing to do with an earlier incident. He was then arrested at an airport trying to leave the country.”
Requesting that the defendant be brought to the Old Bailey for a further hearing, the plea hearing was adjourned until Thursday, October 27.
Razaq, of Feltham, has been remanded into custody, with a provisional trial date fixed for September 4, 2023.”