May 13, 2008

Bottle struck car as it was moving - murder trial witness

A young partygoer says he saw the moment when the back windscreen of the car driven by Lipine Sila was smashed by a bottle, and it was after three people had already been hit as the car accelerated along Edgeware Road.

The partygoer, who is too young to be named, was called as an extra witness on the last day of the crown case in the High Court trial where Sila is accused of the murder of two 16-year-old schoolgirls and intentionally injuring or causing grievous bodily harm to eight other people.

During the first three weeks of the trial, the defence has said that 23-year-old Sila drove off into the crowd in the roadway in a blind panic because he had been assaulted and the car was under attack.

The witness today said his attention was drawn to the car when he saw it hitting three people. He said they ?came off the hood or deflected off the side of the car?.

He then saw someone standing just to his right throw a bottle hard, which struck the back window of the vehicle and smashed it. The bottle did not break, but got caught in the car?s rear spoiler and rolled off. The windscreen shattered and the glass mostly fell onto the boot.

The car was about 4m away from him, still on the correct side of the road when the bottle struck it.

Two more witnesses are due to be called this afternoon before the crown closes its case on the fourth week of the trial in front of Justice John Fogarty and a jury.