AN Afghan refugee has been cleared of being responsible for the deaths of three people in an horrific Hindhead smash.
After a four-day trial, a jury at Guildford Crown Court returned verdicts of not guilty on three charges of causing death by dangerous driving.
Abdul Rahim Jamal, 30, was travelling to Portsmouth from London on the A3 when his car swerved across the road "for no apparent reason" smashing into an oncoming Rover on January 11 this year.
Motorist James Bourke, 46, a photographic technician of Holloway Hill, Godalming, was killed instantly and Jamal's two passengers – his brother and a friend – also died.
Jamal, who miraculously escaped the smash with only cuts and bruises, told the court he had been dazzled by the headlights from Mr Bourke's car causing him to lose control of his vehicle.
Jamal, who told the court he had first come to England in 1989 because his life was in danger in Afghanistan, was driving on an international driving licence in a car he had owned for less than three days.
Giving evidence through an interpreter, he said: "My brother was in the front passenger seat and our friend was in the back.
"I can't say what speed we were doing – it was probably about 50 mph. I remember a car coming the other way and its lights dazzled my eyes. It blinded me."
He said his car went to the left hitting the kerb and he turned it to the right.
Jamal said that when he hit something on the left of the road someone in his car shouted out: "Careful what are you doing?"
He said when he got out of the car after the crash he was in a state of shock.
"I told the ambulance crew that the car's lights blinded my eyes and that I hit something on the left and then tried to turn to the right."
Jamal admitted in court that he had lost control of the car, causing it to veer to the left, and then over-compensated by steering to the right - into Mr Bourke's oncoming Rover.
The jury heard that Mr Bourke was found to have been three times over the drink-drive limit but the prosecution claimed this did not contribute to the accident.
Mr Andrew Urquhart, defending, said the dazzling described by Jamal could have been caused by Mr Bourke having his full beam on or by the swaying that was witnessed by the occupants of a car behind the Rover.
Mr Urquhart told the court that whatever the fault there was on the part of Jamal, it was not sufficient to brand him a dangerous driver.
He said: "The defendant says he was dazzled and lost control. We know from expert evidence that the defendant's car was travelling at between 26 – 35 mph at the time of the impact.
"It was dark on that stretch of the road and there are no street lights there. It was just a pair of lights coming out of the night.
"You are left with the defendant's own explanation that he has put forward consistently and from the outset to the ambulance crew and to the authorities.
"He did not wait hours to give an explanation. He did it within minutes of the accident."