Suicide-by-BMW motorist killed taxi driver

Published on Wednesday 24 February 2010 21:46

A SUICIDAL motorist drove at high speed on to a roundabout and crashed into a taxi, killing its driver, a court heard yesterday.

Halim Cholmeley's car struck the taxi on the near side, and a passenger suffered only relatively minor injuries in the crash.

However, Gavin McCabe, 41, had not been wearing a seatbelt and he was thrown from his vehicle and sustained fatal brain injuries.

Cholmeley, 36, a banned driver who had been drinking, told a series of witnesses that it had been his intention to end his own life when he took his girlfriend's BMW car without her knowledge and sped through the centre of Dundee at about 70mph.

The former recruitment consultant was remanded in custody to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to causing Mr McCabe's death by dangerous driving in the early hours of 15 March last year, at the junction of Kingsway West and Myrekirk Road, Dundee. He also admitted taking and driving away the car without the owner's consent, and driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The High Court in Edinburgh was told that Cholmeley, of Glenprosen, near Kirriemuir, Angus, had worked in Manchester but lost his job in November 2008 after being off with depression.

Mr McCabe, of Perth, lived with his partner and her children and he had three children from a previous marriage.

Advocate-depute Michael Stuart said that on Saturday, 14 March, Cholmeley had been drinking throughout the day and went on to a nightclub in Dundee. At 2:30am, he returned to his now ex-girlfriend's flat, took the keys for her car and drove away, although he was under a three-year driving ban.

"He appears to have driven across the centre of Dundee at speeds estimated by various witnesses to be between 60mph and 70mph before joining Kingsway West.

"Mr McCabe was driving his Skoda taxi. As he rounded the roundabout, the accused failed to give way and drove on to the roundabout and collided broadside with the taxi."

A passenger, Azeez Butali, 33, who was wearing a seatbelt, suffered a fractured collar bone and a chipped bone in his shoulder.

Mr Stuart said: "Mr McCabe was unrestrained and was thrown from the taxi.

"He suffered a severe brain injury, fractures to his left mandible and left side of the face, and several fractured ribs on the left side."

Mr McCabe was pronounced dead the following day.

The defence counsel, Matthew Jackson, said Cholmeley was an intelligent man who had suffered from bipolar disorder. He remembered nothing of the collision, but was in no doubt that he faced a jail sentence.