A woman accused of causing death by dangerous driving yesterday insisted that she did not see the victim before the collision.

Adelle Laura Roberts, of Scenic Heights, Southampton, testified in Supreme Court yesterday and denied causing the death of Craig Astwood by dangerous driving.

Around midday on September 10, 1996, Mr. Astwood's motorcycle and Robert's Bermuda General Agency van collided near the junction of Horseshoe and South roads, Southampton.

Mr. Astwood was travelling east along South Road and the collision occurred as Roberts, travelling in a westerly direction, made a right turn onto Horseshoe Road.

"As I approached the turn, I slowed down,'' Roberts told the seven-man, five-woman jury.

"I geared right down to first. It slowed me right down. I was doing maybe five to ten miles an hour.

"Then I looked up the road and I saw nothing. (I looked) to see if anything was coming. There was nothing coming. Nothing.

"I didn't see anybody in front of me. I indicated and I turned. I put my indicator on.

"As I turned, just short of going in, and approaching the stop sign at the entrance to the gate, that was when I heard a bam, a crash.

"All I know it was on the side of me, the left side.

"I didn't know what happened. He just came out of nowhere.'' Roberts admitted she was in shock immediately following the accident and could only vaguely remember a conversation between herself and witness, Heather Mitchell.

"I really took it hard that he died,'' she said, fighting back tears. "I had to be in therapy for just over a year.'' But Crown counsel Sandra Bacchus challenged Roberts' account.

"If you did not see the motorcyclist and were in a state of shock immediately after, how is it that you can tell us the impact occurred into the entrance of Horseshoe Road?'' she asked.

"You remember the sound and you knew something had hit you or you had hit something, but you never saw the motorcyclist, you never saw the impact.'' However, Roberts maintained although she did not see Mr. Astwood before the crash, she had a clear recollection of the impact.

She also denied an allegation made by Police investigator Sgt. Phillip Lewis that she had "cut the corner'' when entering Horseshoe Road.

But in her closing speech, Ms Bacchus said photographic evidence of the van's final position showed Roberts had indeed cut the corner.

And she told the jurors the testimony of James Lamar Seymour was especially useful because he was in the "best'' position to witness the accident and was an acquaintance of both Mr. Astwood and Roberts.

"That is evidence you can trust and it is reliable,'' she said.

Ms Bacchus said Seymour's testimony that the collision occurred in the east bound lane supported Sgt. Lewis' assertion that gouge marks indicated the impact point.

"She was not looking, that's the only way she could not have seen Mr.

Astwood,'' Ms Bacchus charged.

"How could she not see? There were no obstructions, no-one was in front of her.

"If she was not looking, could that be considered safe and prudent driving? "It was as if, for that moment in time, Mrs. Roberts was driving with her eyes closed.'' But Roberts' lawyer, Mark Diel, argued that the prosecution had provided only two pieces of evidence.

"Somebody was going to execute a right hand turn and there is evidence that there was a collision. That's it,'' he told the jury.

"You haven't the faintest idea how far away Mr. Astwood was when Roberts made her turn.'' And he said contradictions by prosecution witnesses about the precise location of the accident weakened Sgt. Lewis claim that gouge marks showed the impact point.

"Was Mrs. Roberts not paying attention? Possibly,'' said Mr. Diel.

"Was she driving dangerously? Absolutely not.

"On the prosecution's case it was a momentary inattention. There but for the grace of God, it could be anyone of us.'' The trial is expected to conclude today before Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller.