Man mown down by hit-and-run driver in Hallowe’en horror

Pedestrian catapulted into the air suffers multiple injuries

A YOUTH who had just passed his driving test mowed down a pedestrian in an horrific, hit-and-run.

Reading Crown Court heard Aaron Vass had been speeding repeatedly round the Broadway in Thatcham on Hallowe’en last year with music blaring from his Vauxhall Corsa before smashing into his victim, 20-year-old pedestrian Cameron ‘Cammy’ O’Sullivan.

Moments earlier, a passenger in the car had hurled an insult at the victim and his friends.

One horrified witness – a boy aged 11 – told police: “He [Mr O’Sullivan] went up in the air and flipped three times then landed at my feet. It was awful.”

CCTV footage showed Vass’s car hurtling half the length of the Broadway towards stationary pedestrians, who are clearly visible in the middle of the road.

No attempt is made to brake or avoid them, despite there being plenty of passing room on the left.

Instead, the car veers directly towards them at the last second, striking Mr O’Sullivan and catapulting him into the air.

Following the collision, 18-year-old Vass, who lives at Northfield Road, Thatcham, carried on driving with a shattered windscreen.

Suki Dhadda, prosecuting, said the victim was knocked unconscious, suffering multiple injuries to his head and body which necessitated operations for a ruptured spleen and double leg fracture.

On Monday, November 5, Mr O’Sullivan’s friend, Ty Driscoll, told jurors how he, ‘Cammy’ and other friends, including Rochelle Black and Daisy Mace, were in Broadway when they noticed loud music coming from the speeding Corsa.

He added: “It came round and someone shouted ****heads at us.”

As the Corsa looped round a third time, added Mr Driscoll, “It got closer; it sped up... it swerved and Cammy got hit. I jumped out of the way. I was in shock and screaming for an ambulance.”

Ms Mace said she had encouraged Ms Black to throw a soft drink at the car after the insult was hurled at her group, but was shocked when her friend was struck.

She said: “I saw Cammy’s coat in the air. He landed by the kebab van. He was bleeding from the mouth.”

The Corsa was later spotted parked in a nearby road with a smashed windscreen and a dent in the bodywork, the court heard.

Inside was Vass, with passengers including Jordan House, Emily Hill and another woman.

Vass denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving on the Broadway on October 31 last year.

He told the court: “I would never purposely do anything to injure anybody. I feel sad he got injured.”

But jurors took two hours and eight minutes to unanimously convict Vass of the offence.

He will be sentenced at a later date and was meanwhile released on bail.