THE death of three lifelong friends in a UK motorway car collision caused by a Zimbabwean man driving the wrong way was a "road traffic murder", a coroner has ruled.
Student Tauya Marengereke, 27, was twive over the drink driving limit when he made a U-turn on the M6 motorway and plunged his hired Ford Fusion into a Peugeot 406 with four occupants.
Romanian-born Vasile Calin, aged 27, Vasile Florin Bura, 27, and Florin Paska, 18, were killed instantly in the head-on smash near Great Barr. Marengereke, an engineering student, was also killed in the crash timed at 5.50AM on May 24 last year.
Marengereke had been to a party the night before and was twice the drink-drive limit, tests showed.
Black Country Coroner Robin Balmain said it was the worst road accident he had dealt with in 35 years during the inquest which concluded in May this year.
He recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on the three friends, and ruled that Marengereke died as a result of a road accident.
The inquest at Smethwick Council House heard that Marengereke, who was studying in Liverpool but lived in Brighton, had drunk beer and spirits at a party in Manchester before setting off to drive home at about 3AM on May 24.
CCTV footage showed him sitting in his car for half an hour on the hard shoulder near Great Barr, before U-turning and driving northwards at around 5.30AM.
He collided head-on with the Peugeot containing four Romanians who were driving back from a friend’s house. Vasile Paska, Florin’s elder brother, was the only survivor.
PC Steve Jubb, a collision investigator for West Midlands Police, said that debris from the smash had scattered 280ft. Both cars had been travelling at around 70mph.
He said: “It is most probable that the level of alcohol in Marengereke’s blood played a significant part in this collision.”
Balmain said he had taken the unusual step of releasing a photograph of the friends’ smashed Peugeot 406 as a warning against drink driving.
“As far as I am concerned, death by a road traffic collision doesn’t do this justice, this was akin to road traffic murder.”
