Baby died after drunk father drove into oncoming car

A baby was killed after her drunk father drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into an oncoming car, a court has heard.

Emmanuel Sakyi, 31, allegedly fled the scene following the collision on Bletcham Way in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, on 4 December 2022.

His seven-month-old daughter Emmanuela, who had been sitting on her mother's lap on the passenger seat, was left with serious injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital.

Aylesbury Crown Court heard how Sakyi was driving at twice the legal alcohol limit and was "demonstrably far below" the standard of any reasonable motorist.

He is charged with causing death by dangerous driving and an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving whilst unfit through drink, which he denies.

Prosecutor Daren Samat said before Sakyi got behind the wheel he had consumed alcohol and was "significantly above the legal limit".

He had not secured his daughter into a car seat or an appropriate restraint but "simply allowed her to be carried in the front seat by her mother", the court was told.

The baby was on her mother's lap with a seatbelt across her stomach, which was, Samat added, "wholly inappropriate and dangerous".

Jurors heard how the defendant drove for a "considerable distance on the wrong side of the road" and failed to respond to the driver of an oncoming Fiat 500, who was said to have flashed her lights and sounded a horn to attract the driver's attention.

Samat said: "Instead he carried on straight and despite the other driver's best efforts to avoid a collision, he drove into that Fiat 500."

The driver of the Fiat 500 told the court that she had "swerved to the right to get away from the car into what should have been their side of the road".

Samat added that while the defendant may not have known how serious his daughter's injuries were, he was not "going to stick around" for the police and fled the scene.

Emmanuela was taken to Milton Keynes General Hospital and was pronounced dead at 03:32 GMT on 5 December, with a post-mortem examination determining the cause of death as blunt force abdominal trauma.

Sakyi was arrested at his home following the collision and was taken to hospital where he allegedly told a medical professional he was involved in a collision "because the other car was on the wrong side of the road", a court heard.

Tests to determine his alcohol levels estimated he was driving while twice the legal limit.

The trial continues.

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