BMW 4×4 driver who ploughed into party guests explained he ‘was not familiar with an automatic’

A BMW 4×4 driver mowed down five birthday party guests ‘like skittles’ outside a five-star hotel after his cousin was attacked, a court heard.

Prince Atuahene, 28, careered over the pavement and ploughed into the crowd at the Hotel Rafayel in Battersea.

Ahmed Askouri was carried on the bonnet of Atuahene’s BMW X5 for five metres before he was thrown clear.

He ended up trapped under wooden fencing and suffered a broken leg, Isleworth crown court heard.

Atuahene was granted bail following the attack on 13 July 2019 and went on to rob a postman of a package containing a credit card seven months later.

Bill McGivern, prosecuting, said Atuahene and others, including his cousin Kirby Wilkes, had attended the party at the Hotel Rafayel.

Another group, including Mr Askouri and Chrison Bell, also came to the event and a brawl erupted, the court heard

The fight spilled out onto Holman Road and Mr Kirby was left with a broken jaw after he was kicked in the face as he sat in his cousin’s BMW.

Mr Kirby was heard to yell ‘Suck ya mum’ shortly before he was assaulted, the court heard.

Atuahene drove away, performed a u-turn and accelerated back down the road.

He mounted the kerb and crashed into five men, including Mr Adeh and Mr Askouri.

The men were all thrown into the air and left lying on the pavement.

The prosecutor said a local resident ‘saw one male hit by the car and go cartwheeling in the air and come to land by the hoarding.

‘The other looked like skittles the way they had been struck.’

Mr Askouri was thrown from the bonnet of the X5 and ended up trapped under hoardings lining a building site, until police lifted them off. His right leg was broken.

Mr Bell was taken to Kings College Hospital where he was found to have multiple facial fractures, a bleed to the brain and a 4cm cut to his forehead.

Atuahene handed himself in to Wandsworth police station accompanied by his solicitor.

He later said in a prepared statement he was ‘trying to flee the scene out of fear for my life after seeing a large group of people some of whom had knives and a gun.

‘I was terrified. I wanted to leave as soon as possible,’ he said.

‘Once I got into my car I held my head down in fear of shots. I remember reversing and hitting a car behind me. I was not looking up out of fear of being shot at.

‘Before I know I have lost control of my car whilst trying to flee the scene.

‘I only recently brought the car, it is a high performance and I am still not familiar with it, the car is automatic.

‘I normally drive a manual. I didn’t intentionally drive into people, I was just scared for my life and wanted to escape safely’.

But the prosecutor said Atuahene ‘deliberately drove into the five males and knocked some of them down as if they were skittles.

‘It was a deliberate and highly reckless piece of driving.’

Atuahene, from Brent, was bailed and went on to rob postie Barry Mann as he did his round in a quiet cul-de-sac in The Greenway, Ickenham, on 26 February last year.

He got out of a Vauxhall Corsa and blocked Mr Mann’s way and wrestled a package containing a credit card from him.

Atuahene made his getaway in the Corsa but the HSBC card, which had a £9,550 limit, was stopped before any money could be taken out.

He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, robbery and fraud.

Atuahene will return for sentence on 16 September.