Man killed daughter, 9, by driving in ‘reckless and suicidal’ manner
A father has been found guilty of crashing his car in a ‘reckless and suicidal’ manner, killing one of his daughters and injuring another.
Dr Chizoro Edohasim killed daughter Olivia, nine, by dangerous driving and left Eva, 11, with injuries.
He crashed his car into a wall at up to 59mph in a 30mph area while taking his daughters to a maths class last year.
He jumped a red light in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, then crashed into the wall while accelerating.
Olivia, who was in the back seat, died at the scene while her older sister, in the passenger seat, was taken to Manchester Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery.
Prosecutors at Minshull Street Crown Court described his driving as being ‘far short of what would be expected by a competent driver’.
Prosecutor Andrew Nuttall said: ‘In [expert] opinion, he drove applying full throttle to the Toyota demanding maximum power travelling at speeds of at least 59mph across the junction and at no time was the brake ever used.’
As CCTV of the incident was played in court, Dr Edohasim wept and held his head in hands, saying: ‘Why did this happen to me? My family, my daughter. Where are you? I can’t take it. How did this happen to us?’
He tried to blame a mechanical failure for the crash, but vehicle inspectors said there was no evidence of failure in the brakes that would cause such a loss of control.
Witness Nicholas Gee, who was driving the road in the opposite direction a the time of the incident, told the court: ‘There was a car overtaking other vehicles in my lane coming towards me.
‘I realised that if I didn’t do something it was going to hit me. If I had not stopped there would have been a head-on collision.’
He added: ‘The driving was reckless and suicidal.’
The jury heard that Dr Edohasim, who also suffered serious injuries in the collision, told a police officer at the scene: ‘My brakes failed.’
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