Men ‘deliberately hit Black nurse with car and shouted n-word as they ran off’

‘Disturbingly one or both of the two males who got out of the car and ran away shouted the “n-word”.

‘This case is not being prosecuted as a racially motivated crime rather it gives you the impression of the sort of mind of one of those running away had just after hitting Mr Tjitendero.

‘Rather than exhibit shock, or call the emergency services, help or check they were alright, they chose to shout the n-word, get out of the car and run away.

‘Such was the force that he was struck… he was flung onto the windscreen and the concrete blocks of an impacted wall fell to the ground.

‘It is the conclusion of the collision investigator that it was a deliberate act to turn the vehicle sharply to the right, mount the footpath and strike Mr Tjitendero.

‘It is the Crown’s case that the collision was deliberately planned in which each defendant participated and agreed.’

A blue Honda Accord, with Phillip Adams, 26, and Patrick James, 22, allegedly inside, was driving around the Southmead area ‘looking’ for Katungua, the court heard.

A second car, a Kia, containing Jordan McCarthy, 22, and Daniel Whereatt, 51, was allegedly waiting nearby to drive their co-accused away afterwards.

A scientific examination of the Honda afterwards found Adams’s DNA on the inflated drivers’ airbag, and James’s DNA on the front passenger window.

James says he was actually in the Kia while a fifth unnamed man was the passenger in the Honda, and had not conspired to injure Katungua.

Adams denies being either in the Kia or the Honda at the time Katungua was injured or planning to hurt him.

Kannan Siva, representing McCarthy, said there was no evidence of a ‘grudge’ between his client and Katungua and was not involved in a conspiracy.

Whereatt denies taking part in incident, or that he was involved in a conspiracy, or was ‘travelling in convoy’ with the Honda ahead of the alleged attack, or was the ‘getaway driver’.

The jury was told James was also accused of being involved in a similar incident 10 days earlier in Avonmouth in which a Ford C-Max mounted the pavement and knocked a cyclist, Julian Ford, off his bike.

Ms Siva said: ‘There are similarities between the two counts on the indictment, both involving vehicles causing serious injury as a result of being approached from behind when they were on the pavement and struck by a vehicle, which the prosecution says, was used as a weapon.’