‘Showing off led to fatal car accident’

7:31pm Monday 12th May 2008

A teenager's best friend grabbed the wheel of her car seconds before it crashed into a safety barrier in a bid to prevent the car plunging over a flyover, a court heard.

Naomi Gough, 19, died instantly when the front of her blue Renault Clio was crushed in the smash.

Her friend Rachael Parr seized the wheel after Craig Bergin, 20, swerved towards their car, it is alleged. Miss Parr feared the Clio would plunge over the flyover, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Bergin denies causing Miss Gough's death by dangerous driving on January 10 last year.

The prosecution says his "tomfoolery" and showing off in his customised car led to the accident.

Miss Gough, of Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse, was killed on Burdock Way flyover at 11.40pm.

It is alleged Bergin's bright yellow Vauxhall Tigra swerved towards her car, causing it to go out of control and crash.

Prosecutor Ben Crosland said Miss Parr grabbed the Clio's wheel because she feared it would plunge over the flyover. The Clio crossed the carriageway and hit the crash barrier at the Boothtown sliproad.

Mr Crosland says Bergin and Miss Gough met up in Halifax town centre that night and were travelling together, in separate cars, to Brighouse.

They had been texting one another and were keen to meet up. "They were two young people who fancied each other," Mr Crosland said.

Mr Crosland said a witness would speak of a bright yellow vehicle coming up Silver Street, Halifax, "like a bat out of hell" before Bergin and Miss Gough met outside the Accupulco nightclub.

The jury heard Bergin was revving his engine on his way to Brighouse and seemed to be urging Miss Gough to race. The cars were going 30 to 45mph, with the occupants waving at one another, Mr Crosland said. He continued: "The defendant's car seemed to swerve across at Naomi."

Miss Parr grabbed the wheel of the Clio and pulled it to the left because she feared it was going over the flyover, the court heard.

The car struck the v-shaped barrier, crushing the driver's side. Miss Parr saw her friend slumped across the front seat.

Bergin stopped at the crash scene and was there when police arrived.

"The defendant was showing off to Naomi, a girl who he was interested in," Mr Crosland said.

It was his "tomfoolery" that led to two pieces of evasive action that caused Miss Gough's death, Mr Crosland said. The trial continues.