Alleged drug dealer Nathan Charles Phair, who broke down and wept in court at the loss of his girlfriend Natasha Carruthers, accepts no responsibility for her death at the end of a 12-mile car chase at speeds of up to 100mph.
The 23-year-old self-confessed car thief, unlicensed and uninsured driver was giving evidence at his Dungannon Crown Court trial today where he denies dangerous driving causing the death of Natasha in the early hours of October 7, 2017.
Phair, from Castlebalfour Park, Lisnaskea, was driving the blue Vauxhall Corsa car of 23-year-old Natasha when it smashed into a tree.
As he described what happened to court , Phair, nicknamed 'Panda,' slumped forward in the witness box, dropped his head into his hands and wept, before asking for a short break to compose himself.
Later when cross-examined by the prosecution, the Fermanagh man was asked if "what happened has you upset?", and replied "yes" before adding, "I lost a girlfriend here".
However, it was then put to Phair: "Do you feel responsible for it?"
"Not actually. No," replied Phair.
Phair also denies causing grievous bodily injury to their friend Sarah Gault, and possession of Cocaine, admitted supplying, what he "assumed" was the Class A drug to Cavan man Padraig Toher.
Phair also admitted that on the evening before the fatal crash, after he failed to secure 7 grammes of Cocaine he decided to keep the £440 given to him by Toher, who is already awaiting sentence for the manslaughter of Ms Carruthers, the mother of a young baby girl.
He told the court that it was him who took Toher's money and that he expected that eventually he was going to have to repay him.
But he also also said: "I never thought this would happen ... all I would have to do is to pay him back in a couple of days".
He also told his lawyer that on the night of the accident he was attempting to evade the Toher's black BMW which he claimed 'rammed him 10 to 20 times'.
Phair said that as they drove through and away from the village of Derrylin, his Corsa car "slowed down a wee bit as its not a powerful car .... the BMW came right up to me and bumped me twice.
"It looked as if he (Toher) was going to overtake me ... all of a sudden he tapped me again and it was so quick we went into the tree," said Phair, before adding that his next memory was his "ears ringing and everything was black and I heard this car taking off and Sarah Gault was screaming in the back".
Phair suffered a variety of injuries, including bleeding to the brain, a broken right collarbone and various other fractures and bruising.
Phair, who accepted at the time he was taking the drug Xanax, which had a 'relaxing affect on him', said that prior to the accident Natasha and Sarah Gault and himself were sitting in Natasha's Corsa car in a layby in the village of Letterbreen when Toher's BMW drove up behind him and parked.
Toher, he said got out of the car, an iron bar in his hand, and "walked up to the Corsa and struck the front windscreen with the iron bar ... he looked pretty angry ... he wasn't happy", and also smashed the driver door window.
"As soon as he put the drivers' door window in I just put the car in first gear and took off .... I was shocked - panicked .... I wasn't really thinking at the time to tell you the truth, I was just trying to escape .... everybody was in a state of shock, panicking".
Following the short break to compose himself, Phair told the court that he spent 19 days in hospital. He then admitted that about six weeks later, on his birthday on November 23, he stole a Jeep which lead to another high-speed car chase.
Phair said in addition to taking prescription drugs to deal with his pain, he was also taking other drugs, MDM, Ecstasy and Tramadol.