A novice driver who violated the no-alcohol rule before getting behind the wheel testified Tuesday he was otherwise driving lawfully the night of Nov. 28, 2016 until he saw the blinking pedestrian countdown signal at Bloor and Parliament Sts.

“I started gaining speed, I knew the light was going to change,” Galeeb Abau-Jabeen, 26, told a Superior Court jury. He cut off two cars and was about to follow another vehicle through the intersection except that car stopped.

“That’s when I lost control of the vehicle,” which swerved and crashed into a wall, killing his best friend, Mohammad Mohammad, 25, and seriously injuring a female passenger, Elif Gozgoz, 20.

The speed limit on Bloor St. east of Parliament is 40 km/h. Abau-Jabeen didn’t disagree with an expert who has testified during the trial that he could have been driving his Honda Civic between 80 and 85 km/h.

The apprentice mechanic has pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm. His lawyer, Chris Murphy told jurors Tuesday before Abau-Jabeen took the stand that his client deserves to face consequences for what he did to Mohammad and Gozgoz, “but those consequences should not be criminal.”

Some of Abau-Jabeen’s testimony Tuesday contradicts that of another passenger who survived the crash. Last week, Neveen Moukbel told court she and Gozgoz warned him to slow down earlier in the evening when they went to Christie Pits Park. There, Abau-Jabeen and Mohammad drank rum and Coke in paper cups and played soccer. Moukbel testified his erratic driving was “like bumper cars.”

Abau-Jabeen echoed her testimony that at one point Mohammad, who was in the back seat, tapped him on the shoulder and suggested he slow down because there were girls in the car.

Abau-Jabeen had a G2 driver’s licence, which means he was not allowed to have any alcohol in his system. His first reading after the crash showed he had 40 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The second he registered 36 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

An expert has testified his blood alcohol level, at the time of the crash, could have been as high as 60 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

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Novice driver showed ‘wanton, reckless disregard’ before deadly crash at Bloor and Parliament, prosecutor says