A drug dealer has denied he deliberately mowed down a man who died under the wheels of his car after being dragged almost 100 metres.

Erasmus Ahwoi claimed he did not see Tom Rossiter standing in front of his car and said he would have reversed away had he done so.

The 30-year-old dealer - known as Black Jack - said he did not see the father-of-two, 42, in front of him at any point or hear him shout “God help me” as he went under the hired Kia Venga.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard Ahwoi was peddling drugs in Swanley when the alleged murder happened on Saturday, July 4, last year.

The prosecution say Mr Rossiter, a cocaine and heroin user, met Ahwoi in Hart Dyke Road at about 3.15pm. He got into the front passenger seat and his brother Joe Lee sat in the back.

A passing motorist, Karen Collard, saw two men struggling over a bag in the front of the Venga before all three men got out.

Mr Rossiter then stood in front of the car and Ahwoi drove over him, as Mr Lee screamed at Ahwoi to stop, it was alleged. Mr Rossiter died from multiple injuries.

Ahwoi, of Stroud Green Gardens, Croydon, denies murder.

Giving evidence, he claimed he did not feel the wheels go over any “object” as he drove off or his front offside wheel lock up for about 10 metres.

“There was no difference in the handling of the vehicle,” he told the jury of six men and six women. “It was moving freely.”

“I had just left the scene of an attack,” he continued. “I was not paying any attention to the handling of the car.”

Ahwoi said he now accepted Mr Rossiter, who was 5ft 3in tall, must have been under the car.

He did not, he said, hear Mr Lee screaming: “You have ------- killed him. He’s underneath. You have killed my brother.”

“No, I didn’t hear that,” he said. Prosecutor James Lofthouse asked: “Really?” Ahwoi replied: “Yes, really.”

The brothers, he claimed, took his bag of drugs from between his legs. He sounded his horn, he said, because Mr Lee held him tight around the neck.

“I was in a confined space and wanted to get out,” he said. “I was scared of what was happening. I wasn’t angry.

“I never at any point got out of the car. Anyone who says I got out is an actual liar.”

He said he saw Mr Rossiter leave the car and took it he had gone.

Mr Lofthouse told him: “You couldn’t have missed him grabbing at the bonnet as he went under shouting out: ‘God help me.’ You saw that and heard it and decided to carry on.”

Ahwoi replied: “No, I didn’t. If I knew he was there I would have reversed. There was nothing to stop me reversing.”

The trial continues.