‘Anxious’ driver was ‘too late to stop’, attempted murder trial is told

A DRIVER accused of attempting to murder two young women after driving his 4x4 directly at them claims he didn’t see them.

After striking his alleged victims, he claimed he fled the scene in panic.

Christian Matthews, 35, denies attempting to murder Danielle Jones and Latiffah Edubri in Cardiff in the early hours of November 2 last year, after he hit them with his Mitsubishi L200.

Footage was played of the collision in Harris Avenue, Rumney, at a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

The defendant, who denies two counts of attempted murder and two of causing grievous bodily harm, left Ms Jones and Ms Edubri drifting in and out of consciousness and they suffered serious injuries including fractures following the incident, which left Ms Jones needing to learn how to walk again.

Delivering her closing speech to the jury, defence barrister Caroline Rees KC said there was no evidence in the case to suggest her client had the intention of murdering or harming the alleged victims.

She said: “Christian Matthews was not paying proper attention to the road that night and was too late to stop. Having hit them he panicked and fled the scene.”

The court previously heard that

Matthews was depressed after his former partner had called off their wedding, and he had previously attempted suicide. He wrote a message on social media on the morning of the collision in which he appeared to express suicidal intentions following the end of a relationship, the court was told.

Ms Rees dismissed submissions made by the prosecution that the defendant intended to harm himself and others on the night of the collision. She added: “Why on earth would Christian Matthews want to deliberately run over two women in the road; what would his motive be to kill them or cause them really serious injury? We suggest it makes no sense at all. There is no evidence he wanted to kill or cause serious injury, he didn’t know the two women in this impact, he didn’t know them or have anything to do with them...

“We suggest the defendant was of low mood, anxious and in despair, which is relevant in his intention to drive with cognitive load. In normal language, he had an awful lot on his mind at the time. His wedding had been called off and plunged into despair and misery, his businesses weren’t going well, he wasn’t concentrating on his work and everything was building up.”

The trial continues.