Owen Maughan, 27, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his cousin’s son Peter Maughan on June 1 last year over the crash on New Barn Road in Dartford, Kent.
He is on trial for his murder alongside his father Patrick Maughan, 54, who was the front passenger in his car and is accused of encouraging and assisting Owen Maughan.
The trial at Maidstone Crown Court previously heard Owen and Patrick Maughan were “in a fury” at his cousin’s car and “chased” them down the A2 in Kent for several miles.
Owen Maughan drove into the wrong lane and clipped the back of their Ford pick-up truck at about 60mph, the court heard.
Prosecutor Richard Jory KC had said the action was “a deliberate ramming at high speed”, and that Owen Maughan had “used his car as a weapon to ram the other vehicle off the road”.
Peter Maughan was in the back of the car with his one-year-old sister Annarica Maughan, while their mother Hayley, Owen Maughan’s cousin, was in the front passenger seat and her partner Lovell Mahon was driving.
Peter was thrown from the vehicle and died as a result of the crash – with “severe and devastating injuries” to his head, chest and abdomen leaving him no chance of survival.
Mr Mahon suffered serious injuries including a skull fracture, and is unlikely to ever walk again.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, Owen Maughan told jurors he believed he and Mr Mahon were going to fight after arguing back and forth between the cars and so decided to dent the side of his car so he would pull in and fight.
He emotionally told the court that when he found out Peter had died his first thought was to kill himself.
He had been drinking in Rochester in Kent with his father earlier that day, and had about 12 bottles of beer and 13 pints respectively, before they began driving their Ford Ranger pick-up truck home.
He said on his way home they spotted a similar car which made them think the drivers may also be from the traveller community, and pulled up alongside the car.
Owen Maughan told the jury: “When I looked at Lovell, he’s waving his fist around, aggressive and pointing at me. I didn’t know why he was doing that… I didn’t know what the problem was.
“I got pretty pissed off with it.”
He said it made him upset and he slowed down, getting behind the vehicle, and started “following him just to try and annoy him”.
He denied knowing there were children in the car and said he did not hear Mr Mahon say there were “children in the motor”.
He said that at the point approaching a mini roundabout, he followed Mr Mahon thinking they were to pull over and have a fist fight, instead of taking another exit home.
He said when he noticed Mr Mahon was driving away, he decided to “nudge” his car, adding: “I thought I would just put a dent on the side of his car and he would stop.”
On seeing the car roll several times, he said: “I made a cowardly decision. I kept driving away. Only thing I thought about was just getting away.”
The court previously heard how the pair drove off and paused for Patrick Maughan to pull the registration plate off the truck.
Owen Maughan told the court it was to “evade police” and he was in a state of “panic”, adding: “I was shocked, I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
In his evidence he told jurors he organised to leave Kent that night and went to Manchester, but on hearing of Peter’s death he knew he had to “go back and face the consequences”.
He handed himself in to a police station with his mother the next morning.
In cross-examination by the prosecution, Owen Maughan denied Mr Jory’s suggestion that he had done precisely what he intended to do, and that “you just didn’t give a f***”.
Mr Jory added that he could have stopped to try to help after the crash, and Owen Maughan replied: “I wish I did.”
Owen Maughan has also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Mahon.
Patrick Maughan denies all charges.
The trial for the pair, both of Hill Rise in Darenth, continues.
