A death crash driver who lied about being behind the wheel when he killed a friend was convicted - using the latest CGI virtual reality forensics. Tragic Michal Sobolak, 31, died when he was thrown from his new BMW convertible and his friends Robert Nowak and Angelika Raszewska said he was driving. But police had their doubts and ordered a computer-generated recreation which used state-of-the-art technology to prove they were lying.
A bio mechanical video was made using evidence from the wreckage and proved beyond doubt that Nowak was driving and despite no witnesses placing him behind the wheel his lawyers offered no defence when confronted by the damning video, he pleaded guilty. Nowak, 38, has now been jailed for ten years for death by dangerous driving, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and driving whilst disqualified. His girlfriend Raszewska, 25, got 10 months for conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Bristol Crown Court heard how Mr Sobolak, Nowak and Raszewska had been drinking at the couple's home in Cheltenham, Glos., on the fateful night in September 2013. Nowak and Raszewska had just returned from visiting family in Poland and Mr Sobolak had been flat-sitting for them and had just bought a new convertible dark blue BMW.
The trio left in his car at around 9.30pm on the raining evening with Nowak driving and he lost control of the car and smashed into a white Lexus containing an elderly couple. Mr Sobolak was thrown from the car and suffered fatal head injuries and died in hospital despite the efforts of seven junior doctors who rushed out from a nearby flat. Lying Nowak and Raszewska escaped with minor injuries and blamed their dead friend, a claim which could not be contested by witnesses. But relatives insisted that Mr. Sobolak was not driving and police called in Advanced Simtech who reconstructed the crash.