Romanian carried on car bonnet at 40mph

A disqualified driver stopped a street brawl by mowing down and killing a Romanian man who was fighting with his friend, a court heard.

Constantin Sin, 50, was carried on the bonnet of Riyaz Adam’s car at 40mph before his body was thrown into the air and on to the pavement, the Old Bailey heard.

Adam, 25, then picked up two friends outside Kenssy’s Fried Chicken shop in Leytonstone, east London, and changed the Toyota’s number plates.

He is now standing trial for the murder of Mr Sin and the attempted murder of Ionut Bostan, who had been at the same christening party as the dead man and was also hit by the car.

Prosecutor Tim Cray said Adam had driven the white Toyota Prius to High Road, Leytonstone, in the early hours of May to meet his friend Jack Bush, 23.

‘What he saw in front of him was that Jack Bush was involved in a fight and the fight was spilling into the street.

‘In this case it was Jack Bush that was the cause of the argument.

‘He’d been drinking all evening and by this stage he was properly drunk. Jack Bush’s father Tony was there as well.

‘The trouble had started outside a takeaway restaurant and, as you’ll hear, it was over nothing at all – the sort of drunken argument that is, unfortunately, typical of busy High Streets when the pubs and restaurants are closing.

‘What Riyaz Adam did next however was very far from typical. He decided to join in this fight but he did not join in by going to the pavement and throwing punches or by breaking up the trouble.

‘Instead, he decided to go on the attack by using his car as a weapon and that decision was to have deadly consequences.

‘First he drove towards the group of men that were fighting swerving towards and into the group in a manoeuvre that was clearly and obviously threatening.

‘He then made a three-point turn so he was facing back towards the group for a second time.

‘Then, fatally, he then made the decision to drive his car back and right into the middle of the other group – the people that he believed were fighting his friend. As a result, his car struck two of those men.

Mr Cray added: ‘Constantin was thrown onto the bonnet and he hit the windscreen.

‘Even that did not stop the defendant because he accelerated away with Constantin still on the bonnet, carrying him along.

‘This final bit of deadly driving carried Constantin on the bonnet for a distance of around 38 metres before the momentum threw him off.

‘His body went forward for another 20 metres or so before coming to rest on the road.’

Mr Cray added: ‘Ionut Bostan was lucky. Although he too was struck by Riyaz Adam’s car he went to the ground straightaway and although he lost consciousness, his injuries were not life threatening and consisted mainly of sprains and bruising to his right wrist.’

Adam then then picked up Jack and Tony Bush and roared off.

At a secluded set of garages near in Forest Court near Snaresbrook, Adam and Bush were were seen to change the number plates on the Toyota, the court heard.

‘They were trying and trying hard to hide the fact that this car had been used in the attack on Constantin Sin and Ionut Bostan, in order to throw the police off the scent of what had really happened and to avoid getting caught,’ Mr Cray said.

When police tracked the car down Jack Bush and Adam had left their homes.

Adam is now admits that he was the driver of the Toyota on the night and that he was one of the two men changing the number plate on the Toyota, but will claim the collision, which was captured on CCTV, was an accident.

But Mr Cray said: ‘He was driving deliberately and was prepared to use his car as a weapon.

‘This was not a sudden or momentary action. You’ll see him drive the car at the victims once, turn, and drive back into the victims. Importantly, he does not stop, even when Constantin is on his bonnet.

‘These were deadly acts, with deadly consequences and in the circumstances we say that is what he really wanted to do.’

Bush denies perverting the course of justice claiming police have got the wrong man – but he was seen drinking from a water bottle at the scene of the number plate change.

The bottle was recovered by police and bore traces of his DNA.

Adam, of Pearcroft Road, Leytonstone, denies murder.

Bush, Oakdale Road, Leytonstone, denies perverting the course of justice

The trial continues.