Woman pulled from her car at Cemetery Junction traffic lights, court hears

The incident happened in the early hours of October 29 last year when a woman was driving home from work along Wokingham Road, Reading.

She stopped for a red light before Cemetery Junction when a hooded male opened the door, pulled her from the vehicle by her neck and then sped off with two other males in tow.

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The court heard there was an attempted car theft earlier that evening when a hooded male held an imitation firearm up at a driver near Earley Road.

Mohamed Hamza, 20, of Liverpool Road, Reading, is now on trial charged with one count of robbery, attempted robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and driving with no insurance.

The trial, at Reading Crown Court, is expected to last about four days.

Opening the case on Wednesday (May 31), Michael Hollis said: “This case concerns the attempted robbery of one vehicle and a full robbery of another vehicle in the early hours of October 29.

“The prosecution say Mr Hamza, the defendant, used an imitation firearm to commit the attempted robbery.

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“In both cases he was accompanied by two males who have been unidentified.

“The first incident was the attempted robbery. [A man] was driving his car to pick up three friends from the centre of town.

“When he pulled onto the driveway one of his friends said, ‘Shut the window’ and he looked up and saw a male with a white snood running towards the driver’s side window.

“He could see the man had a gun and the male raised the gun and pointed it at him.”

Mr Hollis said the alleged victim then pulled out of the drive and drove away while the hooded male hung off the driver’s side door until the vehicle was going too fast.

Later, at about 1.56am, the second incident happened.

Mr Hollis said: “[The woman] was driving home from work in her silver Corsa when she stopped in the right-hand lane, at a red light, at the junction of Cemetery Road.

“A man opened her door and said, ‘get out the f******* car now’ and grabbed her neck and pulled her out of the car.”

Mr Hollis added that the woman managed to grab her phone before the second male threw her handbag out of the car and said: “Get your f****** bag.”

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A taxi driver then witnessed the car being driven off where it was later found by an off-duty officer, crashed and abandoned near A3290 roundabout.

Hamza has denied all offences. The trial continues.