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

Katungua Tjitendero was seriously injured (Picture: Family handout)

A nurse who was hit by a car heard his assailants shout the n-word as they ran away.

Katungua Tjitendero was ‘deliberately run down’ when the car mounted the pavement and hit him as he was walking near Southmead Hospital in Bristol on July 22, 2020.

25-year-old Katungua suffered a fractured fibula, fractured nose and lacerations to his head and both shins and required surgery led by a plastic surgeon.

Four men are now on trial accused of conspiring together to ‘unlawfully and maliciously’ inflict grievous bodily harm to Katungua.

Anjali Gohil, prosecuting, told the court: ‘He was unprotected, and he had no chance to take preventative action. He was no match for a car being driven at him.

‘Mr Tjitendero was interviewed by the police and during the course of the interview he explained that he just got hit by a car.

Patrick James (left) and Jordan McCarthy are both on trial (Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

Patrick James and his co-defendants deny the charges (Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

‘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.

The attack happened near Southmead Hospital in Bristol (Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

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.’

Earlier, Judge Moira Macmillan told the jury Adams had chosen not to attend the trial and the case would continue in his absence.

Whereatt, of Bedminster, Bristol; Adams, of Southmead, Bristol; James, of Lawrence Weston, Bristol; and McCarthy, also of Lawrence Weston all deny a charge of conspiracy to inflict grievous bodily harm.

James denies a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Ford, although he admits the alternative of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.

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