Dubai: A lawyer argued that his client was groundlessly charged with killing a jaywalker, whom he blamed with committing suicide when she crossed the road with eyes closed after fighting with her boyfriend.
The 22-year-old Pakistani aviation student pleaded innocent before the Dubai Traffic Misdemeanor Court and denied being responsible for the 15-year-old Indian teenager’s death.
“My client was groundlessly charged with running over the girl and killing her on Zabeel Road. What really happened, and citing a number of witnesses, the girl closed her eyes and crossed the road wanting to be run over by a car and get killed. A witness confirmed that her boyfriend had told him that she [victim] wanted to commit suicide after they quarreled,” contended the suspect’s lawyer, Uday Al Kazwini, of Dar Al Balagh Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The teenager was responsible for her own death when she closed her eyes and crossed the road from an undesignated spot shortly after she quarreled with her boyfriend, according to advocate Al Kazwini.
Prosecution records said the defendant, S.T., failed to pay proper attention to the safety of pedestrians and ran over the teenager on August 26.
Medical reports confirmed that the girl, who sustained a critical head injury, slipped into a 10-day coma before she died on September 5.
Prosecutors charged S.T. with running over and killing the teenager. He was also accused of wrecking the vehicle. The student testified that he was not liable for the girl’s death because another car in front of him blocked his vision. S.T. alleged that he was driving within the speed limit when the car in front suddenly veered to the left and that is when he spotted the jaywalker.
“I only saw her the second I knocked her down… she was dragged under my vehicle for around 10 metres. I was paying attention on the road, but the car in front didn’t allow me a glimpse of the girl jaywalking,” said the Pakistani.
Advocate Al Kazwini said: “The description of how the accident took place was illogical. A driver testified that he avoided running over the girl on one side of the road and made an immediate U-turn wanting to warn the girl and get her off the street. The witness further said the 15-year-old crossed the road with her eyes closed. This is an obvious and crystal-clear suicide case. My client is not responsible for the girl’s demise. She bears full responsibility for her own death.”
The lawyer asked the court to acquit his client considering that witnesses had testified that the girl had told her boyfriend that she wanted to kill herself.
Meanwhile a traffic policeman claimed that S.T. failed to control his car and avoid the accident because he was driving above the speed limit.
Advocate Al Kazwini countered the policeman’s statement arguing: “Had my client been speeding [more than 60km/h] then evidently he would have rammed the car that was in front of his.”
A verdict will be heard soon.
Source: http://gulfnews.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment