A jury has been discharged after failing to reach any verdicts in the trial of a man accused of murdering “Good Samaritan” Chris Marriott, who was run over and killed as he came to the aid of a stranger he found lying injured in the street.
Father-of-two Mr Marriott, 46, was helping a woman called Nafeesa Jhangur when they were both among five people hit by a Seat Ibiza car driven by Ms Jhangur’s brother, Hassan Jhangur, 24, Sheffield Crown Court has heard.
Prosecutors said Jhangur ploughed into them in a cul-de-sac in the Burngreave area of Sheffield on December 27, before getting out of the vehicle and attacking another man with a knife, leaving him with serious injuries.
Jhangur went on trial after denying murdering Mr Marriott and a number of other offences relating to the incident, including the attempted murder of Mr Khan.
But, on Thursday, the jury foreman told the judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, that they could not reach any verdicts and the jurors were discharged on the seventh day of deliberating.
“On the contrary, what you have done is what you promised to do which is to judge on the basis of the evidence.”
Ben Campbell, prosecuting, was granted seven days for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether to seek a retrial.
Mr Campbell told the court it was his “firm expectation the Crown will seek a retrial in this case”.
A hearing will take place to consider the retrial situation in the week beginning August 12.
The jury heard how the background to the incident was a dispute between two families following the marriage that morning of Amaani Jhangur and Hasan Khan.
Mr Marriott was out for a post-Christmas walk with his wife and children when he spotted Nafeesa Jhangur and went to help, along with Alison Norris, a passing off-duty midwife, the four-week-long trial heard.
Nafessa Jhangur’s mother, Ambreen, was also present when her son’s Seat entered the street “at some speed” and first hit Hasan Khan’s father Riasat Khan, who was sent “cartwheeling” over the bonnet, prosecutors said.
Mr Marriott was almost certainly killed instantly, and Riasat Khan, Nafeesa Jhangur, Ambreen Jhangur and Alison Norris, were all injured.
Giving evidence in his trial, Jhangur told the jury he “lost control” of the car as he took the corner into the Khans’ street “too fast” and had no idea anyone was under the vehicle.
He admitted that he took a knife with him when he drove to the scene, but denied he intended to kill or cause serious harm to anybody.
He told jurors that he punched Hasan Khan because he feared he was going to attack one of his sisters with a baseball bat and, as he began to take blows, he took out the knife and began “swinging it” without knowing where it was hitting.
He had also admitted causing serious injury to Alison Norris, Ambreen Jhangur, Nafeesa Jhangur and Riasat Khan by dangerous driving.
Jhangur denied attempting to murder Hasan Khan and wounding him with intent.
The defendant also pleaded not guilty to four charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Jhangur appeared in the dock flanked by five prison officers alongside his father, Mohammed Jhangur, 56, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, who denied perverting the course of justice.
The jury also failed to reach a verdict on this charge, which related to him allegedly concealing a knife.
