A crash investigator dismissed a driver’s claim that his electric vehicle moved of its own accord, striking and killing a five-year-old boy.
Ashenafei Demissie, 53, is on trial at the Old Bailey, charged with causing the death of Fareed Amir and seriously injuring his own 12-year-old son.
The court has heard the defendant had been parked outside his flat in Borough, south London, before the collision in November 2022.
The car moved forward and hit the two boys, who had been playing outside, before crashing into five parked cars, jurors have been told.
Demissie has claimed that a fault on the car caused the Volkswagen ID.4 to accelerate unexpectedly.
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 said it was a case of “pedal misapplication” by the defendant and he found no evidence of a fault.
Mark Still outlined his conclusions following an examination of the Volkswagen in December 2022.
He 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 Williams said: “You considered eyewitnesses at the scene. For example, the jury have heard evidence from the mothers of the two boys who were struck at the scene. And indeed you were informed of Mr Demissie’s account of what he said took place.
“You were aware that Mr Demissie had stated that the car had accelerated of its own accord, in essence that he had done nothing to the vehicle to make it move forward. Therefore, you had to consider whether that was a possibility.”
The officer described a “phenomenon” relating to a number of previous collisions in which drivers had claimed their vehicles had accelerated when they believed they had been braking.
He said: “They have put their foot on the wrong pedal. The result of that is the car will start moving. Because the driver thinks they have their foot on the brake, they will likely press harder to make it stop…It spirals out of control.”
The witness said that he had concluded the collision was a “case of pedal misapplication”, adding: “The fault alleged could not be replicated.”
Mr Williams said: “What caused the car to move forward?”
Mr Still replied: “Input by the driver was the only way I could make the car move. No faults were identified on the car that would make it move.”
Under cross-examination, the officer agreed that he was not a computer expert or software engineer.
Stephen Knight, defending, said: “You have no way to test the software, do you?”
Mr Still agreed but said he had considered whether there could have been a mechanical failure, which would include an electrical fault.
In a police interview read in court, cab driver Demissie said that he returned home after picked up his younger son from school.
When he drove into the car park outside his home, Fareed, his mother Rosa, and the defendant’s older boy stood around his car.
He said: “I had bought some sweets for the children and offered Fareed one. Rosa said not to give it to him.
“Suddenly the car jumped. I believe the car jumped because Fareed triggered the sensor. I had never had any mechanical problems with the car before.
“Just like a moment of madness. I don’t know what happened exactly. I tried to brake. It was like too late. It was just like a moment, second, whoosh and jump.”
“I don’t know what happened. My wife just ran and said ‘what happened’.”
The defendant said that his wife had tried to help their son before he told her to go to Fareed.
As he covered his 12-year-old son so he would not see his injury, the boy told him: “Daddy hurts, daddy hurts, broken, daddy hurts.”
Giving evidence in court, Demissie broke down in tears as he told jurors he had been feeling “happy” before the tragedy.
Before the accident, he told jurors that Fareed had seemed “excited” and had called him “uncle Ash”.
Demissie has denied the charges against him and the trial was adjourned until Thursday.
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