A drunk hit-and-run driver who mowed down a 62-year-old Irish pedestrian in London while speeding on the wrong side of the road has been jailed for 12 years.
Javier Salazar (40) had been drinking beer, tequila and wine at a party before he got behind the wheel of his van on the night of June 26th, 2022.
He had already reversed into a tipper truck and driven off before he struck Irishman Derek Kernan as he crossed a road in Tottenham, north London.
Salazar claimed he had been fleeing for his life after being pursued, threatened and attacked by the occupants of the tipper truck.
The prosecution disputed his version of events and asserted he had driven off to avoid giving his details after the initial collision.
Salazar was found guilty of causing Mr Kernan’s death by dangerous driving and jailed for 12 years at England's Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, on Wednesday.
Sentencing, Judge Alexia Durran rejected Salazar’s claims about events leading up to the collision.
She told him: “In short, you drove away because you knew you had been drinking and did not want to get out of the van and speak with the other driver which would have shown him you were drunk.
“So you drove away not in fear for your life – but in fear of your licence.”
Salazar, of Chadwell Heath, east London, was also disqualified from driving for 18 years.
Mr Kernan was originally from Dublin and his family had travelled from Ireland to attend the Old Bailey in central London for the trial.
In a victim impact statement, his brother Desmond Kernan said: “Derek was a good person and would always be a good laugh to be around.”
His loss was still a “shock” as the family had been deprived of the chance to say a “proper goodbye” to him, he said.
Sister Shirley Wade said that the family had lost another brother to cancer a couple of months before Derek’s death.
She said: “When our brother Giles passed, Derek and I said we would meet more often, as I live in Ireland, and to be there for each other. Now I don’t have that opportunity.”
Brother-in-law Leslie Wade said: “Sitting through this trial has for us been a nightmare.
“We have had to hear and see Derek’s last moments in fine detail which has been extremely traumatic but the importance of this we know was necessary.
“Thank you to all those that have helped get justice for Derek.”
Friend Alvin Hughes said Mr Kernan’s death had not just affected the Irish community but all those he had helped, from doing odd jobs for the elderly to getting people jobs in construction.
He said: “Derek was a very hard-working man who rose for work at 6am and always had a smile on his face, time for a laugh and would make the day a joy for everyone around him.”
In mitigation, Adil Syed said Salazar had shown genuine remorse and the taking of another man’s life would “haunt him for the rest of his life”.
Previously, the trial had heard how Mr Kernan had just got off a bus on his way home and had nearly reached the other side of the road when he was struck by the defendant’s van, which was speeding on a 20mph street.
Prosecutor Dickon Reid had said: “The impact caused Mr Kernan to be thrown into the air and deposited further down the road on the pavement outside a food and wine shop.”
Police and paramedics arrived but Mr Kernan had suffered catastrophic head injuries and died at the scene.
Mr Reid said: “The Peugeot van was being driven by this defendant, Mr Salazar, who was driving when he was significantly over the drink-drive alcohol limit, on the wrong side of the road, well over the speed limit.
“He also failed to stop at the scene of the incident despite the victim being hit with significant force and being thrown some distance across the road.
“It appears Mr Salazar already had a dispute with another vehicle, a white tipper truck.”
CCTV had captured the tipper truck following past the scene of the collision some 19 seconds after the defendant’s van.
A member of the public flagged down police to direct them to the Peugeot van, which had been abandoned in a road about 500 metres away.
Mr Reid said the vehicle had a flat tyre and there were signs of damage, including a shattered windscreen.
Salazar, who was with a woman and her 14-year-old son, confirmed to police that the van was his.
When asked who was behind the wheel, the defendant told them in Spanish: “Don’t tell them I was driving.”
Salazar smelled strongly of alcohol, and when he was told the man had died, had appeared “nonplussed” and replied: “OK.”
The 14-year-old boy told officers he had been to a party in Wood Green and the defendant had been drinking, but still decided to drive them all home.
He told officers that before the fatal collision, Salazar had hit another van, got into an altercation with the occupants and was racing off, causing him to be thrown around the back of the van.
The boy said he got out of the vehicle near a Sainsbury’s supermarket because Salazar was driving too fast.
After the crash, he ran down the road and rejoined Salazar and the female passenger, the court heard.
Following Salazar’s arrest, a breath test found that the defendant was more than two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit, Mr Reid said.
Giving evidence, married father-of-three Salazar said he had drunk beer, tequila and wine at the party before getting behind the wheel of the van he had bought to open a cleaning company.
On how he felt about the death of an “innocent man”, he said: “I feel really bad.
“I have my own family and it would be very painful if that happened.
“I am really sorry for everything that has happened.”
