Man who blamed dead wife for fatal crash convicted

A DRUNK driver who dragged his dying wife from the passenger seat of their car to blame her for the fatal crash was convicted of causing death by careless driving in Britain yesterday.

Vimbai Chakudunga was spotted pulling his 30-year-old wife Claire from the vehicle after they smashed into trees in a garden in Ravenshead, Notts, just weeks after their wedding.

The student nurse from Mansfield, who was branded “vermin” by his victim’s family, walked away from the horrific crash with minor injuries.

But a jury at Nottingham Crown Court took just 25 minutes to find the 28-year-old guilty of causing death by careless driving and failing to give a blood specimen.

Ms Chakudunga, who suffered a fractured skull, never regained consciousness following the crash on November 27 last year.

She died 10 days later in hospital.

Ms Chakudunga’s family watched her husband lie repeatedly about what happened on the night of the crash as he stood trial exactly a year after her death.

He claimed his wife had picked him up from the pub and was driving along the A60 when they swerved off the road into trees.

He said he tried to pull his semi-conscious wife from the car because he was worried it could burst into flames but was unable to open the driver’s door so he dragged her through the passenger side.

But two witnesses said they saw him in the driver’s seat of the Vauxhall Corsa and watched him climb out and drag his fatally injured wife from the passenger seat on to the ground.

Police later described Chakudunga as a “callous individual” who had shown no remorse for his victim’s family.

Ms Chakudunga’s family branded her husband, who moved to Britain from Zimbabwe six years ago, a womaniser who abused his wife and would disappear for days on end.

Her father, Anthony White, a former police officer who was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for bravery for his role in the arrest of the infamous “Black Panther”, Donald Neilson, said Chakudunga was “vermin”.

Mr White was in court with his wife, Karen, and two sons. Chakudunga told police in interviews his wife had been driving at the time of the crash and insisted that he had been playing with the stereo at the time.

After he was spotted on CCTV footage driving to a local Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, he admitted driving earlier that evening but said the couple had swapped places before the crash.

He then dragged his wife from the car despite pleas from onlookers not to move the badly injured care assistant.