Driver mows down clubbers

A clubber was almost killed when a rival chased him in his car and deliberately mowed him down after an argument over a girl, a court heard.

Michael Fasan, 29, approached Maddie Brencyz and Antonia Saunders shortly after closing time near the Kosho nightclub, in Romford, a little after 3am on 19 August last year.

Ms Brencyz had rebuffed Fasan’s advances, hinting that she had a boyfriend, the Old Bailey heard.

But the pair crossed paths again just minutes later, this time as she stood with another pal, Aaron Josieh.

When he asked if that was her boyfriend, jurors heard Mr Josieh said ‘What’s it got to do with you?’

Jurors heard Fasan warned him: ‘This is my ends, bruv. This is my territory.’

Despite the pair being pulled apart before any physical violence broke out, Fasan is said to have gone back to his car and ‘began to chase Mr Josieh’.

Shocking mobile phone footage, which later went viral after being posted on Snapchat and Twitter, shows a battered Ford Focus mount the pavement on Chandler’s Way before recircling and smashing into a group of pedestrians milling about on the other side.

As the man apparently filming the clip repeats ‘He’s dead, he’s dead’, other terrified onlookers can be heard screaming and crying in the background.

‘The route the car took appears consistent with giving chase, and at times the CCTV footage appears to reveal a man running ahead of the vehicle,’ said prosecutor Michelle Nelson.

‘That man, Josieh, we say moved towards railings on the pavement.

‘The car followed him and hit him, possibly hitting him on the legs causing him to fall and the car drove over him.

‘There were a number of other people in proximity to him at that point.

‘One was Antonia Saunders. The car hit her full-on. She was thrown over the bonnet, sustaining cuts to her leg and arm and injuries to her leg and back.’

Ms Nelson added: ‘It was sheer good fortune that no-one was killed and that Aaron Josieh and Antonia Saunders sustained somewhat limited injuries.’

Fasan denies being the driver.

Even though police attended the scene that night, no investigation was launched until two days later ‘when footage of the incident was seen by police teams that monitor social media,’ the court heard.

Fasan, of Kidman Close, Romford, was arrested a day after that, on 22 August.

He denies two counts of attempted murder in relation to Mr Josieh and Ms Saunders, an alternate charge of wounding Mr Josieh with intent and dangerous driving.

The trial continues.
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