A Manston man has been found guilty of careless and dangerous driving which resulted in the death of two people and injuries to three others.
Nitesh Bissendary was driving a black Alfa Romeo which mounted a kerb in Ramsgate, Kent and fatally hit Israel’s Tel Aviv University mathematics lecturer Yoram Hirshfeld, 81, and his pregnant daughter Noga Sella.
Hirshfeld and Sella, 37, who was a physician at Cambridge, died at the scene. Her husband, their eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter were injured in the crash which occurred when the family was walking after a meal in August this year. The girl was treated at a London hospital.
Bissendary, 30, was arrested and remanded in custody following the incident. He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was also charged with drunk driving, failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision and failing to provide a sample for analysis.
Two others – a 58-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman – arrested during the investigation on suspicion of assisting the offender and possession of class A drugs were released later.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that Bissendary was not controlling his vehicle “as a competent and careful driver should do”.
He was also accused of using cocaine which impaired his judgement resulting in the “entirely avoidable” accident.
However, the defendant attributed the crash to a momentary lapse in concentration.
Bissendary pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving but denied the charge of dangerous driving.
His sentencing will take place at a later date.
