Witness said accused was 'driving like a maniac' before killing teenager on Leeds pelican crossing
A witness has told a jury that a man charged with killing a teenage pedestrian at high speed was “driving like a maniac” at the time.
Regan Kemp is accused of being behind the wheel of a powerful Ford Focus ST that fatally struck Ashton Kitchen-White in Middleton in May.
He denies he was driving, despite footage taken by a backseat passenger at the time of the sickening collision which appears to show Kemp behind the wheel, the Crown insists.
On day two of Kemp’s trial today, the teenager who took that footage gave evidence in the witness box at Leeds Crown Court.
Speaking through a translator, the witness who is under 18, told the court: “He was driving like a maniac. He kept putting his foot down.
“We were shouting at him to stop.”
Kemp, 26, denies causing death by dangerous driving, insisting someone else was driving at the time.
He had travelled in convoy with friends to Leeds that evening, Friday May 16, where there was to be a proposed swap deal in which the Focus was to be traded for a VW Golf GTD.
Footage from a service station near Carlisle clearly showed Kemp driving the Focus down from Scotland that day.
When they arrived in Middleton that night, the interested Leeds buyer was offered the chance to be taken on a test drive in the Focus.
The Crown says Kemp then put his foot down to “show off” to the proposed buyer. Moments later they reached around 80mph on the 30mph Ring Road Beeston road, striking Mr Ashton-White on the crossing.
The Focus fled the scene, leaving the 19-year-old for dead. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short term later. Prosecutor Paul Mitchell previously told the court that Mr Kitchen-White had “no chance” of surviving the strike from the vehicle at that speed.
The Focus was abandoned a short distance away and Kemp ran back to his friends. They got in a Mini Cooper and left the scene.
They drove back to Scotland, then Kemp travelled south again, back to his home on Lafrowda Close, Penzance, Cornwall.
He handed himself into police four days later, was taken to Leeds, but then refused to answer police questions. He then tried to blame others, denying he was behind the wheel.
Others from that night were arrested but were later released without charge.
The trial, which is expected to last four days, continues.