Crash victim pressed buttons to surge speed - court

A woman accused of killing her friend by driving a supercar dangerously has claimed the passenger pressed buttons that caused the car to "surge" in speed before the fatal crash on the M62.

Humaira Batool, from Bradford, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court after denying causing the death of her friend, 20-year-old Mohammed Shaan Hussain, in the early hours of 21 December 2022.

Batool was behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Urus, hired by Hussain, before it struck a barrier and set alight near Ripponden.

Batool, who was 22 at the time, told the court Hussain had been fiddling with controls on the car in the lead up to the crash, causing the speed to rapidly rapidly "boost" as she was driving.

On Monday, the court was told Batool could hear Hussain "revving" a car outside her home in Bradford shortly before 04:00 BST.

Batool said when she "reluctantly" went outside, Hussain was sitting in the driver's seat of the supercar.

The defendant, now 26, got in the passenger's seat as it was "really cold", before Hussain drove away.

Batool described Hussain, also from Bradford, as "very hyper" at the time, and claimed he "pulled out a canister" of nitrous oxide gas while behind the wheel.

Hussain "randomly stopped" the car at a set of green traffic lights and, according to Batool, of Smiddles Lane, insisted the defendant take the wheel as he was unable to drive.

Batool said she "panicked" and got in the driver's seat.

Despite saying she didn't want to drive, Batool joined both the M606 and then M62. She said at some point in the journey, Hussain told her: "Watch this, watch this".

Batool claimed Hussain then "reached over" and touched something, though she couldn't say exactly what he touched, which caused the car to "just surge". Batool said she was "not watching" the speedometer as she was focused on the road, but she could "feel the speed increasing".

Hussain "pressed the buttons multiple, multiple times", Batool said.

Throughout the journey, the Lamborghini's speed repeatedly increased and decreased, regularly exceeding 100mph, but Batool denied ever intending to drive at such a speed.

She said she didn't do "anything different when the car surged".

The court heard a representative of Lamborghini previously told jurors there was no feature that would cause the car's speed to increase in such a way, other than a person's "right foot".

Moments after passing the landmark "house in the middle of the motorway" at more than 120mph, the Lamborghini came to a stop.

Batool managed to escape the burning car but was left with serious injuries, including burns to around 10% of her body and a shattered tibia.

Prosecutor Christopher Dunn previously told the jury Batool had driven at "grossly excessive speeds of up to 143mph [230 km/h], in wet conditions on the M62 motorway".

Under cross-examination on Monday, he accused Batool of lying to "avoid the consequences of [her] guilty actions".

Mr Dunn said Batool did in fact want to look at and drive the Lamborghini, claiming she was "putting it through its paces" that night. He said: "The only thing that was making you go faster that night was your right foot".

Batool said the power of the Urus meant the speed at which it was travelling was "not always obvious", to which Mr Dunn responded: "140mph is clearly way over the speed limit in any car. You are lying to get yourself out of trouble".

The trial continues.

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