A FATHER has been found guilty of causing the death of his nine-year-old daughter by driving in a ‘reckless and suicidal’ manner.

Medical researcher Dr Chizoro Edohasim, 47, from Altrincham, was convicted of causing the death of his daughter Olivia by dangerous driving.

He was also found guilty of causing injury to his 11-year-old daughter Eva in the accident.

Jurors found him guilty unanimously on both counts.

During his trial, Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Dr Edohasim crashed his Toyota Auris into a brick wall while driving at speeds of up to 59mph, almost double the speed limit on the 30mph road.

Dr Edohasim had been taking his daughters to a maths lesson on Saturday, May 7 last year, when he went through a red light on Stamford Brook Road, Altrincham, at its junction with Manchester Road.

Prosecutors said his driving was ‘far short of what would be expected by a competent driver’.

Olivia, who was in the back seat, died at the scene while her older sister, in the passenger seat, was taken to Manchester Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery.

Both girls had been wearing seatbelts.

Police experts claim the defendant was accelerating at the time of the crash.

Andrew Nuttall, prosecuting, told the jury: “In their opinion, he drove applying full throttle to the Toyota demanding maximum power travelling at speeds of at least 59mph across the junction and at no time was the brake ever used.”

As CCTV of the incident was played in court, Dr Edohasim wept and held his head in hands, saying: “Why did this happen to me? My family, my daughter. Where are you? I can’t take it. How did this happen to us?”

Dr Edohasim claimed he was braking and blamed mechanical failure for the crash.

But GMP vehicle inspector Paul Worswick told the jury: “There was no evidence of failure in the braking system that would cause the driver to lose control.”

Eye witness Nicholas Gee, who was driving the road in the opposite direction a the time of the incident, told the court: “There was a car overtaking other vehicles in my lane coming towards me.

“I realised that if I didn’t do something it was going to hit me. If I had not stopped there would have been a head-on collision.”

He added: “The driving was reckless and suicidal.”

The jury heard that Dr Edohasim, who also suffered serious injuries in the collision, told a police officer at the scene: “My brakes failed.”

The court was read a transcript of the defendant’s interviews with police in which he said: “I have been saving lives as a doctor all my life. This is how the Devil gets me back.”

He told officers he applied the brakes twice. The first time ‘it felt like I was driving through water’, the court heard.

On the second occasion he said the vehicle ‘doubled in speed.’

“I remember thinking, ‘God, is this how it ends?’,” he said in the interviews.

Dr Edohasim will be sentenced at a hearing on Friday, January 26 next year.