THE first two witnesses in the trial of Local Government Minister Parveen Kumar said they never saw the driver of the car that fatally hit Lautoka farmer, Puna Chand, on November 7, 2013.

Mr Chand’s wife, Arun Wati, said she saw her husband being mowed down, but did not see who was behind the wheel because the driver did not get out of the car.

She said she was more concerned about attending to her injured husband, who was bleeding from the ears.

The second State witness, Ami Chand, said he was travelling from Ba to Lautoka when he came across the accident.

He said when he arrived he saw some security officers lifting Mr Chand to the side of the road.

He saw a white car parked on the side of the road, but did not see the driver.

Mr Kumar is facing one charge of dangerous driving occasioning death in relation to the death of Mr Chand.

Ms Wati said she was waiting along Kings Rd near their Teidamu home at around 2.25pm when she saw her husband being hit by the car travelling towards Lautoka.

She said she saw her husband land on the gravel path from the impact of the collision and saw blood coming out of his ears.

She said three men, including a neighbour, and prosecution witness Ami Chand came to her aid.

She said her husband was put into Mr Chand’s vehicle and taken to the Lautoka Hospital.

During cross examination by defence lawyer Devanesh Sharma, the prime witness had an emotional breakdown and the court was forced to take a five-minute recess.

Before the break, Mr Sharma grilled Ms Wati on her evidence and police statement, adding that some of her facts were not adding up.

He said four security officers from Matrix Security had in fact stopped to carry Mr Chand to the side of the road after he was hit.

Mr Sharma said his instructions from the accused was that the 48-year-old victim had crossed the road from behind the bus that he had disembarked and did not check to see if the road was clear.

He said his instructions were also that the deceased should be blamed for the unfortunate incident.

Mr Sharma told Ms Wati she had not witnessed the accident and was not at the scene of the accident.

In response, Ms Wati said she was not lying.

She said her husband was dead and that she should not be accused of lying because she was the first person to see what had happened.

The second witness said he drove the victim and a hysterical Ms Wati, who was covered in her husband’s blood, to hospital for treatment.

The victim was taken to the Lautoka Hospital for emergency treatment, but later died in the Intensive Care Unit.