Driver in court charged with hit-and-run murder

Published on 23/10/2012 01:25

A VAN driver has appeared in court accused of murdering a mother-of-three and attempting to murder 13 other pedestrians, including seven children, in a hit-and-run rampage.

Matthew Tvrdon, 31, was led into Cardiff Magistrates’ Court yesterday in handcuffs.

He is accused of deliberately driving into parents and young children in a spree over 30 minutes and three miles in Cardiff’s Ely and Leckwith districts on
Friday afternoon.

Karina Menzies, 31, was killed by a white Iveco van. She was one of 14 pedestrians, half of them children, hit by the van, which allegedly mounted kerbs deliberately.

Tvrdon looked relaxed as he was brought into the courtroom. Unshaven and wearing a black jumper, he was asked to confirm that he was of no fixed address.

Tvrdon is charged with
murder, 13 counts of attempted murder, four counts of actual bodily harm and one of dangerous driving.

District Judge Bodfan Jenkins remanded him in custody. He will appear at Newport Crown Court today via video link.

Six people injured in the
incident remain in hospital.