8:50 am, December 12, 2024
A sales executive DID kill his colleague in a horror crash which saw his BMW smash head on into a 26-tonne truck at almost 100mph, a jury has ruled.
Car Dealer reported earlier this week that the Old Bailey had heard how 24-year-old Ivan Zailac’s powerful BMW 340D collided with the lorry at well over double the speed limit.
Stephanie Nye-Diroyan, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene just under two hours after the collision in Enfield, north London, at 7.54pm on October 23, 2022.
The pair were colleagues at Big Motoring World’s Enfield dealership, where Nye-Diroyan worked as a finance administrator, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A colleague was FaceTiming them at the moment of impact and heard a scream before connection was lost.
Judge Sarah Munro said Zailac had been been ruled unfit to stand trial so the jury had to formally decide whether he did the act alleged, namely causing Ms Nye-Diroyan’s death by dangerous driving.
Yesterday (Wed), the jury found he did carry out the act and the judge adjourned sentencing until January 22.
Earlier Dr Jaleel Mohammed told the court Zailac suffers from amnesia and doesn’t remember the details of what happened.
Dr Mohammed said: ‘The evidence from the medical records showed that he had suffered a brain injury.
‘He subsequently had amnesia after the accident itself.
‘My opinion on the matter is that the amnesia was caused by the traumatic brain injury, and not a psychiatric condition.
‘The amnesia is not a psychiatric condition but it’s a neurological condition.’
Frederick Hookway, prosecuting, said Zailac drove a BMW, an M340D, at approximately 98mph on Mollison Avenue, an A-road in north London that has a speed limit of 40mph.
‘It is alleged that due to the speed and manner of his driving he lost control of that vehicle, causing it to crash into an oncoming lorry that was driving in the opposite direction,’ he told the court.
‘Stephanie Nye-Diyoran at the time was in the front passenger seat.
‘She was caused death by serious injury due to the collision between the vehicle and the lorry, and despite the attention and efforts of emergency services, she was tragically pronounced dead the scene.’
Mr Hookway said lorry driver Andre Allen had one passenger with him, adding: ‘Their route started at a depot in Enfield, the destination was Covent Garden.
‘The route took them southbound along Mollison Avenue. The road has a single carriageway in each direction and a speed limit of 40mph.
‘The incident itself happened on a corner of that road.
‘The lorry driver, he described it as a blind corner where you are unable to see what is coming in the other direction due to an incline in the road and change in direction.
‘He also remembered that the conditions that night were dark and wet.
‘As he came around the corner in the lorry, he saw a grey car coming in the other direction – it was coming at some speed and initially it was in the correct lane for oncoming traffic, but as it came around the corner Mr Allen watched it slide, as he described it, into his lane.
‘It continued to slide until it collided with the front of his lorry, the point of collision being towards the driver’s side of the HGV.
‘Mr Allen thought he was driving at around 20-25mph, so well within the speed limit, and he had braked his lorry when he first saw this car.
‘Based on data from the airbag module in the defendant’s BMW, the collision happened at 19.54pm, so six minutes to eight in the evening.’
The prosecutor said using a combination of dash-cam footage, data recorded by the airbag module and witness evidence, a collision investigator had put together a reconstruction.
The BMW ‘had partly and then wholly crossed the white lines in the middle of the road,’ said Mr Hookway.
Jurors heard Zailac was driving at ‘98mph before the collision, representing something well over double the applicable speed limit for that road.’
Following the crash Ms Nye-Diroyan was initially able to respond to the lorry driver by ‘nodding her head’, Mr Hookway said.
But her condition deteriorated and despite the best efforts of doctors at the scene, resuscitation efforts failed she was pronounced dead at 21.46pm.
Zailac was taken to the emergency department at Royal London Hospital.
Mr Hookway told jurors: ‘We will invite you to conclude that this (crash) is obviously from the reckless speed at which the vehicle was being driven, a speed wholly unsuitable for the road and the prevailing conditions.
‘The effect of that driving was the lost of control of the BMW, causing it to collide with Mr Allen’s lorry, which had the catastrophic effect of causing the death of Stephanie.’
The prosecutor said the jury will have to decide ‘whether this defendant did the act, namely whether he drove dangerously and whether, as a result, he caused the death of Stephanie Nye-Diyoran.’
Dr Gourinath Tokachichu earlier said Zailac ‘hasn’t got the emotional strength at this stage to engage in any kind of discussion about the court case.
‘Because of this, his mental disorder is ongoing and his symptoms are ongoing, and sometimes getting worse.’
Dr Tokachichu suggested Zailac is suffering from a treatable post-traumatic stress disorder condition.
Zailac, of Greycote Place, Ruislip, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and the jury found he carried out the act.
