Witness saw people jump out of the way of car driven ‘erratically’ at crowds in Romford town centre, court told

Michael Fasan from Gidea Park appeared at the Old Bailey on Monday, February 11 after he was charged with numerous motoring offences including dangerous driving. Photo: PA (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Michael Fasan of Kidman Close, Gidea Park, is on trial for attempted murder, driving whilst disqualified and driving dangerously following the incident in August last year.

The woman told the Old Bailey that on Saturday, August 19, it was her first time visiting Kosho nightclub in South Street, Romford.

She had parked her car in Slaney Road and on Sunday at around 3am was waiting with her friend for the rest of the group to leave the club.

“As we were standing outside I remember a guy tapping me on the shoulder,” she said.

“He asked me for my phone number. I said no more than twice and then I just said my boyfriend’s inside and the guy said okay.

“He was a black man, he had a navy tracksuit and a red line down the side of it.”

Later when she was waking down Chandlers Way, the man approached her again.

This time the woman was with one of her friends who she had gone to Kosho with.

She said that they were not officially a couple, but were seeing each other.

“The man asked me ‘is this your man then?’.

“[Her friend] said ‘yes, what’s it got to do with you?’ and then the two started arguing.”

The witness, who told the court that she doesn’t drink alcohol, left the men arguing and went to get her car to see if she could get everyone home.

When she returned to Chandlers Way the two men continued to argue with people trying and failing to break up the dispute.

She said: “All I remember is [the defendant] returning in a car.

“He was aiming it at [my friend], whichever direction he would run to, [the defendant] would follow.

“Once the car had turned around I could see who was in the driver’s seat. I could see that it was the guy who had asked for my number.

“At one point I was standing near a bush and I remember the car driving towards me and literally the car was so close to me I jumped into the bushes.”

She described the driving as, “erratic” and “crazy” and explained that people threw bricks and stones at the Ford Focus while it was driving.

The witness became emotional as jurors were again show a video of the incident that had been posted on social media.

The sounds of people screaming from the footage matched the witness’ description of hearing her friend screaming.

She said: “I heard a big noise and I couldn’t see [my friend] anymore. I heard another scream it sounded like [my friend] and I’ve known her all my life.

“At that point I thought [she] was dead.

“As I was getting into my car I saw [my friend who had argued with the defendant]. He had blood all over his back and his fingers.

“All his clothes had holes in and they were ripped. He was complaining of a really bad pain in his stomach and back.

“I lifted up his shirt and all of the skin on the bottom of his back was gone.”

The witness then drove her friend home and took her other friend with an injured back to Queen’s Hospital.

It wasn’t until the police contacted her three days later that she was interviewed about the incident and identified the defendant from a selection of images.

Mr Fasan’s defence lawyer, James Lachkovic, questioned the woman about her recollection of the events that night.

He said: “I’m going to suggest that you could not be sure that it was the same man who had asked for your phone number earlier, in the car.”

However the woman insisted that she recognised him to be the same man driving dangerously in Chandler’s Way.

The trial continues.