The jury in a death by dangerous driving trial has heard that shortly before the fatal collision, the victim jumped onto the bonnet of another car.

Jordan Thomas, 29, suffered catastrophic injuries during the incident on Harbour Road, Onchan, on the evening of Sunday, February 25, 2024.

He was transferred to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool, where he succumbed to his injuries on March 4.

The driver of the black BMW involved in the collision, Jackson Joseph Paul, is standing trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery accused of causing death by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Roger Kane told the seven-strong jury that Mr Thomas had jumped onto the bonnet of the defendant’s car and started pulling on the windscreen wipers.

The vehicle had reversed for several metres, stopped and then accelerated forward to a speed of at least 20mph before braking hard, causing Mr Thomas to fall back into the road, he said.

Giving evidence, a witness told the jury she had been driving to her auntie’s house on Groudle Road when she saw a man on Harbour Road, dressed in orange shorts and a white T-shirt, who she thought wanted to cross the road.

She said she stopped the car and waved him across, but he then waved for her to drive forward. She said she did so ‘slowly and cautiously’ and then recalled him being on the bonnet of her car, facing forward.

In her police statement, she said he had ‘thrown himself’ onto her car and, as a lone female, she had felt concerned for her safety.

She told the jury the man had got off her car and returned to the side of the road, and she had then carried on driving. She stopped further up the hill to see what was happening before continuing to her auntie’s.

The pair then walked back to the scene and saw ‘the commotion’, with emergency services in attendance.

In a written statement, another motorist said she had been returning from a family meal with her husband and mother when she saw a man bang on the side window of a car in front and then climb onto its bonnet.

She said he moved back between parked cars and then held out his hand to stop her going up the road.

‘I felt incredibly uncomfortable,’ she said. Not wanting to risk him jumping onto her car, she reversed and took a longer route home.

Mr Kane said two videos taken by the defendant’s front-seat passengers were ‘by far and away the most important evidence in this case’.

The first shows Mr Thomas lying across the bonnet of the BMW on his stomach as the car reverses with him still on the bonnet. At the end of the video, Mr Thomas is shown gesturing and saying: ‘Go lad, go lad.’

The second video shows him lying across the windscreen with the car moving forward before he slides down the bonnet and is propelled backwards onto the road as the car brakes. The front-seat passenger is heard saying: ‘Slow, slow, slow,’ followed by: ‘No, no.’

On the second day of the trial, a witness who lived on Harbour Road said she had been walking her dog when she heard a loud and repeated beeping noise from a car horn. Rounding the corner, she saw a man on the front of a car.

In a statement to police, she said she had heard the sound of wheels spinning as if they were skidding. She said the man had fallen off the car when it came to an abrupt halt.

In police interview, the defendant maintained he had acted in self-defence, fearing the man was going to punch his way into the car.

He said he had tried to put the automatic car into reverse but, because it was in drive, the car moved forward by accident and, panicking, he then braked hard.

Mr Kane told the jury there was no doubt that Mr Thomas’s behaviour that night was ‘bizarre’.

‘It’s not normal or rational behaviour,’ he said.

Toxicology tests showed no substances in the victim’s body other than over-the-counter medicine, the jury heard.

Outlining the prosecution case, Mr Kane said Mr Paul had exaggerated his claims of terror and his actions had not been ‘reasonable nor proportionate’.

Bail continues for Mr Paul, of Palace Road, Douglas.

The trial continues.