The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who struck a woman crossing the street on Spurling Hill.

Dennis Webb was found guilty in Magistrates’ Court of causing bodily harm by driving without due care and attention in an incident on March 13, 2016.

While he appealed his conviction before the Supreme Court, in a ruling dated August 21 Assistant Puisne Judge Patrick Doherty found that magistrate Craig Attridge had carried out a “comprehensive analysis” of the evidence and law in the case.

Mr Justice Doherty said he found no basis to overturn the magistrate’s conclusion, adding: “There is ample evidence to support his finding of guilt in this matter.”

The court heard that just before dawn on the day of the incident, the complainant was crossing Spurling Hill on foot when Webb turned on to the road from Crow Lane and entered the westbound lane.

He struck the complainant in the road, knocking her to the ground and causing her a 12in laceration to her left calf and a broken wrist, both of which required surgical treatment.

The parties agreed that at the time of the collision the weather was clear, the road conditions were dry and traffic was light.

It was also agreed that before the collision, Webb was not speeding or driving in a reckless manner.

Magistrate Craig Attridge found that Webb was guilty of driving without due care and attention on the basis that he was not keeping a proper lookout.

However, Webb launched an appeal on the ground that he had no reasonable expectation of encountering a pedestrian in that portion of the road, where there was no pedestrian crossing.

Elizabeth Christopher, counsel for Webb, argued in the Supreme Court that the magistrate had misapprehended the potential effect of glare from a taxi that had stopped in the eastbound lane of Spurling Hill for the complainant to cross.

Ms Christopher also argued that the Supreme Court could reconsider the facts found by the magistrate and, in all the circumstances, that the conviction was unsafe.

Paula Tyndale, for the Crown, said Mr Attridge had considered all the relevant information in the case and correctly applied the legal principles to his findings.

In his written judgment, Mr Justice Doherty said Mr Attridge noted that the Traffic Code Handbook requires drivers to be prepared to encounter pedestrians in the road.

“These breaches of the code, combined with the appellant’s admission that he would take some fault for the accident, is strong evidence in support of the magistrate’s finding that the appellant was not keeping a proper lookout for the complainant at the time of the accident and was guilty of the offence,” Mr Justice Doherty wrote.

“Additionally there are the still photographs extracted from the CCTV footage, referred to by the magistrate, which depict the appellant’s cycle heading directly towards the complainant moments before the collision.

“In my view these photographs are powerful evidence of inattention on the appellant’s part at the material time.

“It is difficult to see how the appellant, who was under a duty to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians as he is required to do under the code and who claimed he was paying attention to the road in front of him, could not have seen the complainant in the middle of his lane before he struck her with his cycle.

“He essentially agreed that he was not keeping proper lookout when he admitted that he bore some responsibility for the accident and admitted he was not looking out for pedestrians at that location as he should have been.”

Mr Justice Doherty said he found no reason to question Mr Attridge’s findings and dismissed the appeal.

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