A professional kickboxer told police he was terrified when a man began attacking a car in which he was a front-seat passenger, a court heard.

A video of Niayl Jones giving police his account of a fatal collision was shown to the jury in a death by dangerous driving trial.

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, Liverpool, where he died on March 4.

Jackson Joseph Paul, 37, the driver of the BMW involved in the collision, is standing trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery accused of causing death by dangerous driving.

Taking the stand this week, Mr Paul told the jury he had been heading up Harbour Road when a man jumped onto the car’s bonnet, started pulling on the windscreen wipers and then punched the windscreen.

He said: ‘I was just reacting to the crazy situation. I was fearful and panicked.’

Mr Paul said he had accidentally driven forward rather than reversing.

The defence case has now concluded, with the jury shown a video recording of BMW front-seat passenger Mr Jones giving a statement to police.

Jurors were told that the contents of Mr Jones’s statement were not agreed by the prosecution and defence, and had to be treated as hearsay evidence as he was not available to give evidence in person, under oath, at the trial.

In his statement, he tells the officer: ‘I don’t know why he chose to attack the car.

‘I was terrified. He was a big guy, punching the windscreen. I thought it was going to break.’

Mr Jones explained that he was Mr Paul’s flatmate and the pair had gone for an evening drive to shut a window at the gym he owned.

After turning onto Harbour Road, they had seen a man come out onto the road ahead. They stopped, but as soon as they did, the man had ‘flopped or jumped’ onto the bonnet and started pulling on the windscreen wipers.

He said Mr Paul had sounded his horn, which seemed to aggravate the man, who was now kneeling on the bonnet and began punching the windscreen.

‘At that point Jackson started to accelerate to scare him off,’ Mr Jones told the officer.

He said he shouted to the driver to ‘slow, slow’ and, as soon as Mr Paul took his foot off the accelerator, the man had fallen backwards straight onto the road.

They stopped immediately and Mr Jones said he had put the man into the recovery position until ambulance staff advised him over the phone to lift the casualty’s head to open his airway.

The jury was also shown body-worn camera footage of police officers speaking to Mr Jones at the scene.

In the footage, he says: ‘I was terrified, I tell you. And I’m a professional kickboxer.’

He said the man had shown a ‘mad rage’.

‘Honestly, he was attacking the car. He wasn’t playing. I know what a fighting face looks like,’ he said.

The prosecution argues that Mr Paul’s actions had not been ‘reasonable nor proportionate’ in reversing a short distance with Mr Thomas on the bonnet, then accelerating to a speed of at least 20mph before braking hard.

The trial continues, with the jury expected to retire later this week to consider its verdict.