Father mowed down and killed after night out
Jurors hear claims that father-of-three was delibrately run over
A FATHER-OF-THREE who grew up on the Chalkhill Estate in Wembley was deliberately mowed down and killed following an argument, a court heard.
Gary Frater, 32, a former pupil of Claremont School in Kenton, died after he was run over outside his home in De Havilland Road, Edgware, after a night out clubbing in Watford.
Louis Tate, 24, who is accused of his murder, said he had no idea he had reversed over Mr Frater in the early hours of May 30 last year.
Tate told jurors at the Old Bailey he had sped away to avoid being attacked.
The court heard claims that Tate followed the dead man back to his home after they argued in Watford before deliberately running him over.
Tate and his friend Jake Lee, 23, had earlier tried to chat up the girlfriends of Mr Frater and his friend Delvin Robinson, jurors were told.
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Tate claimed he had driven to Edgware because his friend believed the girls were interested in meeting up later that night.
But when they arrived there, Mr Frater confronted Tate and Lee and said: “Why did you follow us here?”
Tate said: “I was saying ‘Just move out the way, it’s cool. We didn’t know you was with the girls.’
“It was a misunderstanding basically.”
He claimed he was forced to drive off when Mr Robinson swung an axe at his front windscreen.
He said: “It happened in seconds. It was over quick. When he smashed the car I started panicking.
“I thought he was going to chop my head off or split my head open or something.”
Mr Frater suffered ‘catastrophic’ injuries and died later that day.
Tate from Southall, west London, denies murder.
The trial continues.
