THE back seat passenger in a fatal car crash “may not have been wearing his seatbelt”, a jury heard yesterday.
Stephen Hocknell, 21, from Carterton, was driving home from work with two friends Callum MacKinnon and Peter Hayes on September 7 last year. The car left the B4020 Shilton Road, span out of control and slammed side-on into a tree, killing Mr MacKinnon. Hocknell, who has profound deafness, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court and denies causing death by careless driving.
The jury yesterday heard from independent crash investigator Rowland Hockenhull, who examined the scene and evidence.
He told the jury the marks on the seatbelt in the back seat, where Mr MacKinnon had been sitting, showed he could not have been wearing it.
He said: “If anybody had been sitting in the seat and wearing that seatbelt, the marks would have been further back. It wasn’t extended enough.”
Mr Hockenhull said that from witness evidence, he did not believe Hocknell had been speeding. The trial continues.
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