Laughter was heard on a video taken from the scene of a fatal crash where a 19-year-old was knocked off his moped and died, a court has heard.
Sam Stephen Cripps, aged 20, has denied causing death by dangerous driving and an alternate charge of causing death by careless driving after 19-year-old Zaide Sandy died in a crash in Beaconsfield on May 5, 2019.
Cripps has been accused of “deliberately” knocking the victim off his moped, and that there was “beef” between him and a group of teenagers from High Wycombe, where Mr Sandy was from.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard on Wednesday that following the crash, Cripps returned to the scene in a friend’s car.
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The jury were shown a Snapchat video that was taken from scene, where laughter is heard and a male voice could be heard saying “he’s clapped” which is slang for ‘dead’ or ‘finished’.
The court was told the voice belonged to Oliver Pritchard, who was in the car with Cripps. The court heard from the driver, Sam Rolfe, that Cripps himself was “obviously terrified” by what had happened.
The jury were told how when the crash took place, Cripps was driving a white Vauxhall Corsa and had two passengers – Josh Lane, then aged 17, and Oliver Pritchard, who was 19 at the time.
Following the crash, Cripps did not stop at the scene, later telling the police that he had panicked and “just wanted to get away”.
The defendant drove to Oliver Pritchard’s home in Sefton Close, Stoke Poges. After they arrived, the group was picked up by Sam Rolfe, an old friend of Cripps, who collected the trio in his Audi and drove them back to the scene in Beaconsfield.
Giving evidence on Wednesday morning, Mr Rolfe told the court how he was friends with Cripps and Mr Lane, but had only known Mr Pritchard for about a week prior to the incident.
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During the cross-examination, the jury was shown a short video which was recorded on Snapchat. The video showed the police cordon in Amersham Road after the incident, and police cars and an ambulance can be seen in the footage.
Speaking over the video, a male voice is heard laughing before saying “yeah, he’s clapped.”
Mr Rolfe told the court that Oliver Pritchard recorded the video and was the one who could be heard making the comments.
Cripps’s voice is not heard in the video.
When the prosecutor, Alan Blake, asked what “clapped” meant, Mr Rolfe said: “I took it as he’s finished or he’s had it, basically. Dead or seriously injured.”
The video also included a caption which read “oops ops is pi**ed”. Mr Rolfe explained that “ops” was short for “opposition.”
Mr Rolfe added: “From Ollie’s point of view he’s talking about opposition. Pi**ed is upset or angry.”
Taking questions from defence barrister Julian Winship, Mr Rolfe was asked how Cripps was feeling following the crash.
Mr Rolfe said: “I could tell he was scared.
“Josh [Lane] and Sam [Cripps] were sat quite low down in the car, like they didn’t want to be seen in the car.
“For the whole journey Sam and Josh were on edge, they were obviously terrified.”
Mr Winship went on to ask if he felt the video taken by Mr Pritchard was disrespectful. In response, Mr Rolfe said: “Yeah, it was taking the pi**."
He added that the difference between how he, Mr Lane and Cripps felt about the incident compared to how Mr Pritchard felt was “massive.”
Sam Stephen Cripps is charged with causing death by dangerous driving and an alternate charge of causing death by careless driving. He denies both charges.
The trial continues.
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