A man set out to murder three children in his car by driving 'at some speed' into oncoming traffic when he was 'emotionally' upset, a court heard today. Tancredo Bankhardt, 41, allegedly failed to secure seat belts around his young passengers before deliberately causing a serious collision involving multiple vehicles.
Details of the Incident
Norwich Crown Court was told several people were injured in the crash, including two of the children in his Vauxhall Astra who suffered serious injuries. But jurors heard his plan to kill the children was thwarted because nobody died in the crash on the night of September 26 last year on the A146 road between Loddon and Hales in Norfolk.
Prosecution's Case
Prosecutor Stephen Rose KC said Bankhardt had 'intended to end his own life' and the lives of the three children 'by deliberately orchestrating a road traffic accident'. He added: 'The prosecution say he went about that by deliberately driving at some speed into oncoming traffic. Three children were in the crash with him and he ensured that none were wearing seatbelts. The result was a serious collision involving multiple vehicles on the road. We, the prosecution, say this was a deliberate collision as a result of a terrible decision taken by Mr Bankhardt, who was in no doubt in a state of heightened emotion. But it was no doubt a clear decision.'
Intent and Evidence
Mr Rose told jurors: 'The central decision in this case may well concern what precisely the defendant was intending to do when his car collided with others. You will be wanting to think "May it have been a case that was a simple accident and nobody intended anything terrible to happen?" Or "May it have been a case that the defendant may have wanted to cause some serious injury by his actions but perhaps short of killing anyone?" Or, as the prosecution say, the evidence points to something far graver, in that Mr Bankhardt decided that none of the occupants of the car, himself included, should walk from the collision. Namely he intended they should all die in the impact.'
Mr Rose said that Bankhardt had fastened the seatbelts in the car by placing them into their buckles and then sitting the children on top so they were not secured. He told jurors: 'The prosecution say it points firmly into the direction that their seat belts were not meant to be doing their job that night. Mercifully, whilst serious injuries were caused in the collision, thankfully no lives were lost. But a number of people involved received significant injuries.'
Defense and Charges
Mr Rose said that he understood that Bankhardt would be arguing that the events of the night were 'a terrible accident' and that he had not intended to kill himself or others. The defendant denies three counts of attempted murder, relating to the children, and two counts of causing serious injury to two of them by dangerous driving. He added that Bankhardt had spoken to other people in a series of audio calls and messages during his journey. Mr Rose said he envisaged that Bankhardt would be arguing that the collision was caused by 'a combination of the emotional calls and the lights of oncoming vehicles'.
He told jurors: 'The issues for you are rather stark. Was this a deliberate attempt to kill or might it have been an accident? During the trial, you will hear evidence of other drivers who happened to be on the road at the time. You will hear their eyewitness accounts and you will be assisted by dashcam footage from some vehicles.' Mr Rose added that jurors would also have to consider 'the background of what was going on in Mr Bankhardt's life' at the time.
Court Proceedings
Bankhardt, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was dressed in a smart dark suit and tie as he listened to proceedings from the glass-fronted dock. He denies three counts of attempted murder, relating to the children, and two counts of causing serious injury to two of them by dangerous driving. Bankhardt also denies causing injury by dangerous driving to an adult driver called Lukasz Wawrzenlzyk, on the same night and a charge of dangerous driving. None of the children involved can be named for legal reasons. The trial continues, and is expected to last for two weeks, possibly going into a third week.
