Jury still out in trial of man accused of murdering 22-year-old woman with car
A jury is still deliberating whether a 22-year-old woman who was fatally hit by a car outside a Shropshire takeaway was murdered.
Rebecca Steer of Llanymynech died after she was hit by a car in Willow Street, Oswestry, in the early hours of October 9 last year.
She was killed when Stephen McHugh drove his gold Volvo on to the pavement outside the Grill Out takeaway in Willow Street and ploughed into a group of young people.
McHugh, 28, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, has admitted the manslaughter of Miss Steer but has denied murder.
The 28-year-old has also denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Kyle Roberts, who was injured in the incident outside the Grill Out fast food takeaway, but admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The jury at Stafford Crown Court began considering whether McHugh was guilty of murder and GBH on Tuesday, but had still not reached a verdict by the end of Wednesday.
During the two-week trial, the court had heard how Miss Steer was "an innocent bystander" who had been killed after being hit by McHugh's car at around 2.50am.
McHugh, who is originally from Liverpool, has denied he used his "car as a weapon" to target somebody outside the Grill Out following an earlier altercation in the town centre, but he admitted to having kicked a man in the head in Oswestry town centre around an hour before the incident in Willow Street.
The defendant has also admitted to drinking heavily and taking around two grams of cocaine during the evening before he hit Miss Steer and Mr Roberts.
When the jury was originally sent out to consider its verdict, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said they would have to decide whether the defendant had set out to injure somebody outside the Grill Out takeaway, regardless of who that person was, or whether he had not intended to hurt anyone.
The trial continues.
