THE victim of a motorcycle theft has been charged with murder after ramming two motorcycle thieves from his motorcycle as they tried to escape.
Mihai Dinisoae, 32, was woken in the early hours of Sunday 3rd May by the sound of somebody stealing his Honda.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Dinisoae went downstairs and made off after Mikey Dunwiddie and Joshua Malloy, both 28 who were trying to escape on Dinisoae’s bike.
Driving his Vauxhall Vectra, Dinisoae was described to be in ‘hot pursuit’ of the thieves, eventually ramming the bike from behind with his car twice. It’s reported that the second collision caused both rider and passenger to be catapulted from the bike, with Mr Malloy being killed almost instantly after colliding with a lamppost.
Dinisoae denies the charge of murder against him, as well as causing GBH with intent to Mr Dunwiddie, who is reported to have suffered multiple serious injuries as a result.
Video footage was shown to the court which revealed that the alleged victims had already ridden past Dinisoae’s motorcycle on pushbikes, before going back to make off with the machine. At the time Malloy was cycling alongside the Honda, although later CCTV footage shows him riding on the pillion seat of the motorcycle.
After the collision, Dinisoae is said to have fled the scene, while members of the public tried to help the alleged victims at the roadside.
Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC commented that driving into the back of the motorbike ‘was not just a bit of bad driving that unfortunately led to an accident’.
He added: ‘This, we will say, was the defendant deliberately using his car as a weapon. This collision was not caused by the rider of the bike losing control and driving into a barrier. ‘If you deliberately drive a car into a motorcycle at speed with one rider and one pillion not even wearing helmets, you must realise the inevitable consequence is the bike will crash and those on it will at least be caused grave injuries.’
The trial continues.
