Car attacker faces jail

Daniel Twumasi, 31, formerly of Meadway Court in Maybridge, was this week found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and dangerous driving - but cleared of attempted murder.

It took a jury at Chichester Crown Court more than eight hours to return its verdict after the three week trial. Twumasi denied all the charges.

Judge Charles Byers warned him: "Custody in this case is inevitable. You are a man facing a long prison sentence. You have been convicted of a grave offence indeed."

Twumasi was remanded in custody. He will be sentenced next month.

His 20-year-old wife, Katherine Adkins, who he married in July, broke down in the public gallery and had to be comforted by family.

Christine Laing, prosecuting, said the 31-year-old, who at the time of the incident was studying engineering at Northbrook College, was so enraged when 24-year-old Daniel Sommerford and his two brothers stepped in to break up a violent row between him and Miss Adkins, he smashed his car into Mr Sommerford as he squared up to him in the middle of Marine Parade, Worthing, after a night out on January 24.

Daniel Sommerford's legs buckled under the Renault Clio, shattering bones in both his legs. He was flung 30ft into the air and landed 24 metres from the point of impact.

Mr Sommerford cannot walk without crutches and now spends much of his time in a wheelchair. Miss Laing told the court he is likely to suffer disability for the rest of his life and needs many more operations.

During the trial, the jury heard Daniel's older brother Nathan, who lived in Worthing at the time, break down in the witness box as he told the court he thought his brother was dead.

They had all been out together at Occassions nightclub in Marine Parade. Nathan and younger brother Liam were on their way home when they saw Twumasi arguing with his girlfriend. They stepped in to make sure she was all right, the court heard.

Miss Laing said Twumasi was so enraged they had interfered he got into his car, drove 200 metres up the road and then spun the car round and slammed it into Daniel Sommerford, who was standing in the road stationary "like a sumo wrestler" squaring up to the oncoming car.

Just before the car drove off "at speed" Daniel Sommerford had put his fist through the driver's window, the court heard.

Christine Laing said: "Daniel Sommerford was standing in that road, no doubt trying to goad you, and you drove straight at him without any attempt at breaking and you did that because at that point you had lost control completely and intended to kill him."

Twumasi answered: "It did not happen like that."

She asked how he explained the conclusion of a forensic scientist who said, based on blood samples taken the day after the collision when Twumasi was arrested, he had "considerably" more to drink than the two pints he had told the police.

Twumasi said he thought the alcohol level could have been affected by the illness malaria, which he had suffered from years before.

His defence counsel Walter Aylen QC, said he had been a victim of racism that night and was scared for his own safety when he was surrounded by the Sommerford brothers.

He said Twumasi was being terrorised by the brothers, who were hurling racist abuse at him and kicking and punching the side of his car. The jury heard evidence from seven independent witnesses who all denied there were any racial remarks made that evening.

Mr Aylen said Twumasi had been on his way to report the racial abuse to police when Daniel Sommerford jumped out in front of him from between a row of parked cars.

He said he tried to swerve to avoid him.

Twumasi, who was born in Ghana but moved to England in 1994, said in his evidence he had been out with a friend at Lush nightclub on Worthing Pier when he was approached by a white man and asked if he had any drugs.

The court heard bouncers at the club asked him to leave because he was very "agitated" about this.

He went to find his girlfriend and discovered her sitting on a bench on the seafront crying.

During his evidence, Nathan Sommerford said he saw Twumasi clip his girlfriend across the top of the head. Twumasi denied ever hitting her and said he just moved her hair away from her eyes.

"All of a sudden I saw two men run at me," said Twumasi. "I was so scared and terrified at what could happen," he said.

He said he and his girlfriend got into the car to drive to the police station to report the incident when Mr Sommerford jumped into the road in front of him. Bouncers from nearby clubs rushed to try and stop him fleeing the scene. One reached through the smashed window to grab the car keys but Twumasi drove off, dragging him more than eight metres up the road.

He said his girlfriend was screaming that she wanted to see her mother and the couple drove to her house in Poole, Dorset. Twumasi went to Poole police station on January 25 and was arrested.

Katherine Adkins, 20, said in her evidence Twumasi had never hit her. She told the court she screamed at the men to leave her alone because she was fine.

She also claimed her partner had been the victim of racial abuse that evening.

Mr Aylen told the jury the whole incident had been a "tragic, tragic accident". He said Twumasi did not go straight to the police because he had been wrongly arrested for assault in November, 2003, by Worthing police after being attacked by a gang of white men and wanted the advice of his mother-in-law before he went to police.

Twumasi is due to be sentenced on September 17.