Electric vehicle ‘jumped’ forward and killed five-year-old boy, driver tells court

The driver of an electric vehicle which accelerated suddenly and killed a five-year-old boy in south London has claimed it “jumped” forward and denied pressing the accelerator pedal.

Ashenafei Demissie, 53, had been sat inside his Volkswagen ID.4 car outside his flat in Borough when it struck Fareed Amir and also seriously injured his own 12-year-old son Raphael.

He has claimed that a fault on the car caused it to move unexpectedly, and it has been asserted by his defence that he did not press the accelerator and the car “moved of its own accord”.

On Wednesday, a Metropolitan Police traffic collision investigator told the court the incident was a case of “pedal misapplication” by the defendant and he found no evidence of a fault.

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, Mr Demissie recalled how he had placed the vehicle into ‘park mode’ while talking to Fareed’s mother, Rosa, who was a close family friend of 17 years.

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He said that he had offered to give Fareed, who referred to him as ‘Uncle Ash’, a sweet but was told by his mother that they were trying to avoid unhealthy snacks.

Mr Demissie said: “The car jumped and the women started screaming.”

His lawyer, Steven Knight, asked: “Where were your feet?”

He replied that they had been stationary on the floor of the car, and added: “That is for safety, that is how it is.”

Mr Knight asked: “During the time you were parked up did you meet your feet?” to which he responded: “Not before it started moving but after it starts .”

“You describe the car as jumping, will you able to tell how fast it went?,” Mr Knight asked. “It happened within a second like boom,” Mr Demissie said.

He added that he had subsequently hit the brake two to three times, with the car brought to a stop after it collided with several other parked vehicles.

During the incident, Fareed was fatally injured and died after his mother rushed him to nearby Guy’s Hospital. Meanwhile, Mr Demissie remained with his son Raphael who had also suffered multiple fractures to his legs, which required a four-week stay in hospital.

Cross-examining, prosecutor Michael Williams said: “What I suggest happened is that you believed your car was in park mode, you went to put your foot on the brake, which is what you need to do to put it out of park mode, but in fact because it wasn’t in park mode and because you put your left foot on the accelerator by mistake, the car moved forwards rapidly although you didn’t intend it to do so.

“Still believing your foot as on the brake, as you’ve described to the jury, you keep trying to press the brake, but you were in fact pressing the accelerator. Is that right or wrong?”

Mr Demissie responded: “It is wrong, there is a difference between an accelerator and brake.”

Jurors heard that at the time of the incident, Mr Demissie had been working seven days a week as a mini cab driver for Addison Lee, while also working around the schedule of his two young sons who have learning and health difficulties.

Giving his findings, traffic collision expert Mark Still previously told jurors: “I was unable to find any defect that contributed to the collision and I was unable to make the car accelerate without the driver driving.

“I found no faults with the operation of the vehicle, including steering, brake and acceleration.

“I was unable to make the vehicle move without any additional input. You had to make an action to make the vehicle move.”

Prosecutor Michael Williams asked: “Were you able to find anything that caused the car to move forward without you doing anything physically to the car?”

Mr Still replied: “No.”

Mr Demissie denies death and serious injury by careless driving. The trial continues.