Driver killed woman in Leamington when he lost control of his car after having an epileptic fit - after being warned not to drive due to his condition

A woman was killed instantly when a driver lost control after he suffered an epileptic fit and collided into her and her partner as they were walking their dog.

Driver Avtar Singh Lota had already hit a parked car and damaged other vehicles and garden walls as his car travelled along the pavement before hitting the couple.

And he knew only too well the danger he posed and that he should not have been driving – because 14 months earlier he had had a similar crash after also allegedly having a fit.

Lota (63) of Campion Road, Leamington, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to causing the death of 57-year-old Emer Grace O’Malley in December 2019 by dangerous driving.

He also admitted causing serious injury to her partner Mark Catherill who suffered a broken femur in the collision in Rugby Road, Leamington, near its junction with Guys Cliffe Road.

Prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski said Mrs O’Malley suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by Lota’s Mercedes C220 at 7.35 in the evening on December 17 after he had an epileptic fit.

“The defendant, given his long and well-established history of epilepsy, deliberately drove his vehicle knowing there was a high risk of him having an epileptic fit at the wheel.

“He drove, and ignored the high risk he posed. It was a recognisable and foreseeable risk on the part of the defendant.”

Mrs O’Malley and Mr Catherill were taking their dog for a walk, and were crossing the junction of Rugby Road and Guys Cliffe Road after waiting for the green man at the traffic lights.

Lota was on his way home at the time, having visited his mother in a Warwick care home, and had driven along Emscote Road before joining Rugby Road.

Suddenly his Mercedes veered across the road and struck a parked Vauxhall Corsa before mounting the kerb.

Travelling along the pavement, it then forced its way between a line of parked cars and garden walls, damaging seven of the vehicles and several walls and fences.

It then went back onto the carriageway, narrowly missing two pedestrians, as Mrs O’Malley and Mr Catherill retreated to the pavement in a bid to keep out of its path.

By then Lota, who had been travelling at 22mph when he first lost control, was doing 32mph, and Mr Kolodynski commented: “The inference was that his foot was on the accelerator and did not come off, such was the loss of control.”

Having crossed the junction, the Mercedes collided with the traffic lights and uprooted a concrete post before colliding with the couple with such force that Mrs O’Malley was thrown into the garden of a neighbouring house.

The emergency services were immediately alerted, but her injuries were so severe that a doctor who arrived by air ambulance pronounced her dead at the scene.

Lota, who had minor injuries, was taken to hospital, and in the ambulance he told a paramedic that he had epilepsy and could not remember his last attack.

“He appeared very confused. He was described as being vacant, gazing forward, and he threw water in the air and was shouting and chanting in Punjabi. It lasted for about 20 seconds.”

At the hospital Lota said: “I just started getting confused. The car just went slightly off. By the time I realised, it had hit the traffic lights, and after that I can’t remember.”

When he was interviewed after being arrested at his home the next day he confirmed he suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, and had been suffering from quite acute headaches for five or six days before the fatal crash.

“The Crown submit it is this series of admissions which give rise to his criminal responsibility. There are signs that he knew an attack was imminent,” said Mr Kolodynski.

”He had a long history of epilepsy, as well as regular and repeated warnings about driving and operating machinery.”

Judge Barry Berlin commented: “The point is, he’s not fit to drive. When he gets into a car he could at any stage have such a fit, and did. He knew perfectly well he should not be driving.”

Mr Kolodynski said Lota’s epilepsy was first diagnosed in 1979, and in 1994 a neurologist warned him about driving, and in 1998 his doctor described a pattern of seizures every six weeks.

He had had two previous collisions, the first in July 2016 after he had failed to tell his insurance company about his epilepsy, and another in September 2018 when he had mounted the pavement and collided with traffic lights and a bollard.

The judge asked whether he should conclude that had been the result of a fit, and Mr Kolodynski responded: “The Crown say there is an irresistible inference from the factual matrix between them that they must both have been directly caused by an attack.”

But Christopher Martin, for Lota, said: “He does not accept he had a seizure which caused the collision in 2018. But in relation to this matter, he accepts he should not have been driving on that day.”

Judge Berlin observed that it would be an aggravating factor if the previous collision had been the result of a fit – and adjourned the case for evidence to be obtained on that point.

He granted Lota bail, but warned him: “You must prepare yourself for an immediate custodial sentence, because the likelihood is that that is what is going to happen.”