A barman was heard sobbing repeatedly in a series of calls before he tried to murder three children in his car by ploughing into oncoming traffic, a court heard today. The audio of Tancredo Bankhardt crying and speaking of his anguish was recorded by a dashcam camera filming the road ahead while he was at the wheel of his Vauxhall Astra.
Emotional Turmoil Before Crash
Norwich Crown Court was told how the 41-year-old made and received a number of calls and also sent audio texts as he drove up and down for two hours. Brazilian-born Bankhardt was in a state of emotional turmoil before he allegedly accelerated up to 74mph and veered onto the wrong side of the 60mph limit A146 road, jurors have been told.
His car smashed into two oncoming cars, leaving two of his young passengers and one of the other drivers seriously injured near Loddon, Norfolk. Prosecutors say the crash was a deliberate attempt to kill himself and murder the three children after he ensured they were not wearing seatbelts.
Calls Reveal Distress
In one call to a woman, he said: 'I hope you are very happy from the bottom of my heart. There's nothing to be done… nothing to be done.' He added in another conversation: 'Don't let me take the next step.' One segment of the dashcam audio recorded at around 7pm on September 26 last year heard him denying that he intended to kill the children. But in a further call at 7.04pm, he said it was 'difficult for him to come back'. Ten minutes later, in another call to the woman, he tearfully described himself as 'a crying baby'.
In yet another call to a man at 7.40pm, he could be heard talking in his native Portuguese, saying: 'Now we are in a situation that I've entered and how do I get out of this? How do I do it? Either way I come out as mad? Yes bro, but explain to me, how do I get out? After my first step, like it's hard. There's no salvation for me… The s*** is done.'
Selfie and Fake ID
Bankhardt posted a selfie picture to his Instagram account before the crash, showing him and three children in the car, it is claimed. The audio also recorded him talking about a fake ID document that he had and urging one of the children to throw it out of the car window.
The woman who received calls and messages from him told the jury yesterday how they had left her 'really scared'. Bankhardt had earlier told the woman that he had picked up the children and taken them to a bowling alley in Lowestoft, Suffolk, jurors were told. Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said that she did not follow his social media and did not see the image of him with the children until her friends told her about it.
Police Called
The woman explained she called police, telling a 999 controller that Bankhardt was 'going out of control' and that she feared he was going to kill himself and the children. She told police who raced to her home within minutes that she had no idea where he was when he was sending her the 'strange messages'.
Prosecutor Stephen Rose KC said Bankhardt had 'intended to end his own life' and the lives of the three children 'by deliberately orchestrating a road traffic accident'. Bankhardt appeared to be 'distressed and sobbing' in calls to the woman and was 'becoming increasingly desperate and depressed', while stating that he was driving 'to clear his head', said Mr Rose.
The Collision
He was on a call to his brother, who was encouraging him to head home, when there was the sound of 'a loud bang' from a collision at 8.33pm. The court heard that Bankhardt had put on his full beam headlights and deliberately veered his blue Astra into the path of a red Honda SUV, driven by Lukasz Wawrzenlzyk. A black Audi A5 being driven behind the Honda by John Huggins was also involved in the collision. Mr Wawrzenlzyk had been unable to avoid a collision, despite steering into the verge and ending up in a ditch, said Mr Rose.
Bankhardt, who had significant leg injuries, later told police that the crash was not intentional and that he would never deliberately hurt himself or anyone else. He claimed that the crash was as a result of his emotional state combined with him being dazzled by the oncoming headlights of cars.
Forensic Evidence
A forensic vehicle examiner found no mechanical defects with the car or any reason for Bankhardt losing control, the court has heard. Mr Rose said: 'We, the prosecution, say this was a deliberate collision as a result of a terrible decision taken by Mr Bankhardt who was in no doubt a state of heightened emotion, but it was no doubt a clear decision.'
The prosecutor added that Bankhardt had fastened the seatbelts in the car by placing them into their buckles, and then sitting the children on top so they were not secured. He told jurors: 'The prosecution say it points firmly into the direction that their seat belts were not meant to be doing their job that night. Mercifully, whilst serious injuries were caused in the collision, thankfully no lives were lost. But a number of people involved received significant injuries.'
Bankhardt of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, denies three counts of attempted murder, relating to the children and two counts of causing serious injury to two of them by dangerous driving. He also denies causing injury by dangerous driving to Mr Wawrzenlzyk, and a seventh charge of dangerous driving. The trial continues.
