Car crashes into mum's Chichester home

A woman has spoken of the moment she thought her daughter had been killed after a car crashed into her Chichester home.
ks170844-2 Chi House Car Crash phot kate
Beverly Cowling outside her house where the car crashed and destroyed her wall.ks170844-2 SUS-170418-200504008ks170844-2 Chi House Car Crash phot kate
Beverly Cowling outside her house where the car crashed and destroyed her wall.ks170844-2 SUS-170418-200504008
ks170844-2 Chi House Car Crash phot kate Beverly Cowling outside her house where the car crashed and destroyed her wall.ks170844-2 SUS-170418-200504008

Beverly Cowling, 56, of Oving Road, was asleep in the early hours of Saturday morning when she woke up to what she thought ‘sounded like a bomb going off’.

Beverly said: “I looked out of my window after hearing what I thought was an explosion and saw this car completely embedded into my front wall and a large part of my next door neighbour’s house.

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“From the position of the car when I first looked down I thought it had gone straight into my basement, which is my 21-year-old daughter’s room.

“I thought she was dead.”

When she ran outside, Beverly discovered that the car had collided with her front wall and into the living room of her neighbour’s home.

“My daughter, Tilly, had heard the bang and me screaming and ran out. She said she thought it had been a terrorist attack,” said Beverly, who runs a property refurbishment business.

“I was just in complete disbelief – my neighbour had just been sleeping on his couch in the lounge and woke up surrounded by rubble.

“He could have easily been killed.

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“The first couple of days I just felt numb but the shock has set in now – I haven’t slept for two days and I can’t go into work.

“This is by far the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. It will take me a while to get over it.”

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “Police were called at 12.40am on Saturday, April 15 following reports that a car had crashed into a wall and then a house in Oving Road, Chichester.

“Daniel Bratu, 22, a factory worker, of Oving Road, was driving the Audi A6 when it crashed.

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“He was arrested at the scene and has since been charged with driving a motor vehicle when above the legal alcohol limit, driving without insurance and driving a vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

“He has been bailed to appear at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on May 2.”

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