Two men found guilty of car attack on NHS worker

Adams (L) and James (R) are due to be sentenced on Monday

Two men have been found guilty of an attack on an NHS worker who suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a car.

Phillip Adams, 26, Patrick James, 22, Jordan McCarthy, 22, and Daniel Whereatt, 51, had denied conspiring to “unlawfully and maliciously” inflict grievous bodily harm to Katungua Tjitendero.

Adams, of Southmead, Bristol, and James, of Lawrence Weston, Bristol, were convicted by a jury at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, while Mr McCarthy and Mr Whereatt were acquitted.

Mr Tjitendero, 25, was hit by a blue Honda Accord on the afternoon of 22 July 2020, near Southmead Hospital in Bristol, shortly after finishing a shift there.

Katungua Tjitendero was hit by a car shortly after leaving work at Southmead Hospital in Bristol

Mr Tjitendero had been walking to a bus stop along Monks Park Avenue when the car mounted the pavement and hit him, forcing him onto the windscreen and then pinning him against a wall.

In a police interview Mr Tjitendero said, as he lay injured on the ground, he heard one of the men shout a racial slur before running away.

"At first, I just thought it was some sort of crash," he told police.

"Then they got out and said what they said. I definitely heard the n-word. I can't really remember what they looked like, I just remember two white males."

Mr Tjitendero added he had never seen the men before and had not been in dispute with anyone.

The jury was told the case was not being prosecuted as a racially motivated crime, but that the comments gave an impression of a state of mind.

Damage to the car that hit Mr Tjitendero showed the force of the impact

Eyewitness Alison Adams told the court how she saw the car take a “sharp turn to the right and aim straight into where the houses were”.

She described how the two men who ran from the vehicle had their hoods pulled up, with one wearing a “Scream” type mask, and the other with a scarf over his face.

“By that time, I realised someone had been hit by the car going into the wall,” she added.

Anjali Gohil, prosecuting, told the court that James and Adams were in the car that hit Mr Tjitendero, while Mr McCarthy and Mr Whereatt were waiting nearby, ready to drive their co-accused away.

A scientific examination of the car found Adams' DNA on the inflated driver's airbag, and James' DNA on the front passenger window.

All four denied involvement, adding that they had not entered into any agreement to cause Mr Tjitendero serious harm.

The 25-year-old suffered a fractured fibula, fractured nose and lacerations to his head and both shins.

His injuries were so severe that he required extensive plastic surgery.

James was also found guilty of a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, in relation to a separate incident in Avonmouth 10 days before the attack on Mr Tjitendero.

Mobile phone footage played to the court showed a cyclist, Julian Ford, riding his bike along a pavement before a Ford C-Max mounts the kerb and is driven into him.

The sound of laughter can then be heard coming from inside the car.

The footage was found on James’ phone during the investigation into the attack on Mr Tjitendero.

James accepted he was in the front passenger seat and filmed the incident, which occurred on 12 July 2020.

Mr Ford suffered a fractured rib, a haemothorax, a lung injury and blood in his chest.

Adams and James will be sentenced on Monday.