Baby died after drink-driving father crashed into oncoming car in Milton Keynes, court told
Jurors heard the infant was sat on her mother's lap in the front seat, with no seatbelt across them
A baby sitting on her mother’s lap in the passenger seat was killed when her father drunkenly drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into an oncoming car, a court has heard.
Emmanuel Sakyi, 31, allegedly fled the scene after the collision, which caused his seven-month-old daughter Emmanuela to suffer serious injuries and later die in hospital, the court was told.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard today that Sakyi was driving while twice the legal alcohol limit and “demonstrably far below” the standard of any reasonable motorist.
He is charged with causing death by dangerous driving and an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving whilst unfit through drink, which he denies.
Prosecutor Daren Samat told jurors that the collision took place on Bletcham Way in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on December 4 2022.
Mr Samat said that before Sakyi got behind the wheel for the “ill-fated” journey, he had consumed alcohol and was “significantly above the legal limit”.
He said the defendant did not, as he was legally responsible to do, secure his daughter in a car seat or appropriate restraint.
It was heard that instead, Sakyi “simply allowed her to be carried in the front seat by her mother”.
Emmanuela was sitting on her mother’s lap with a seatbelt across her stomach, Mr Samat told the court.
“We say that in itself was wholly inappropriate and dangerous,” he added.
Jurors heard that during the journey, Sakyi drove “for a considerable distance on the wrong side of the road”.
The defendant failed to respond to the driver of an oncoming Fiat 500, named in court as Shannon Willison, who was flashing her lights and beeping her horn to attract his attention, jurors heard.
“Instead he carried on straight and despite the other driver’s best effort to avoid a collision, he drove into that Fiat 500,” Mr Samat added.
The prosecutor said the defendant, who it was alleged knew he was responsible for the collision, “wasn’t going to stick around for the police” and fled the scene.
He said that the defendant may not have known at this stage how serious the injuries to baby Emmanuela were.
After emergency services arrived it became clear that the infant was “gravely ill”, Mr Samat said.
She was taken to Milton Keynes General Hospital that evening and was pronounced dead at 3.32am on December 5.
A post-mortem examination by a forensic pathologist found that the baby’s cause of death was blunt force abdominal trauma.
Officers attended Sakyi’s address after the collision and after he arrived home in the early hours, arrested him, the court heard.
He was taken to Milton Keynes General Hospital where he allegedly told a medical professional that he had been involved in a collision “because the other car was on the wrong side of the road”, the court heard.
The court was told that a drink-driving procedure took place, during which he was asked about what he had consumed since the alleged offence.
He responded no to alcohol and, when asked if he had eaten, told officers that he had had a McDonald’s, the jury was told.
A sample was taken to calculate his alcohol level and work out what it would have been at the time of the crash.
It was estimated that he was driving while twice the legal limit.
When he was later interviewed under caution by police, he declined to answer any questions, the court heard.
Giving evidence in court on Tuesday, Ms Willison, who was driving the Fiat 500, said that when she saw the car driving towards her, “it was too close to do anything”.
She told jurors that she beeped her horn for a couple of seconds, adding: “I think I kind of knew I was going to have a collision at that point so I swerved to the right to get away from the car into what should have been their side of the road.”
The motorist recalled seeing three people – two women and one man – get out of the other vehicle involved in the collision.
Ms Willison said the male “vanished” afterwards and that the other two women were at the scene when the police and ambulance arrived.
Sakyi did not attend court for the trial opening on Tuesday.
The trial continues.