Man in court accused of causing deaths of Cambridge scientist and her father
A man has denied causing death by dangerous driving after a Cambridge scientist and her father were killed when a car hit five people.
Noga Sella, 40, from Cambridge and her father Yoram Hirshfeld, 78, died after they were struck by a black Alfa Romeo in Leopold Street, Ramsgate, just after 9.30pm on Wednesday, August 10.
Noga’s six-year-old daughter was badly injured and was taken to a London hospital, where she was reported to be in a serious but stable condition. Meanwhile, a man in his 40s and a boy of primary school age suffered minor injuries.
Nitesh Bissendary, 30, of Highlands Glade, Manston, was arrested shortly after the incident and later charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He appeared via videolink at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday (August 22), where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. A provisional trial date was set for November 28.
A 58-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman were also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
Both have since been released on bail pending further inquiries until September 8.
Mrs Sella was a consultant physicist living in Cambridge with her family. Her father was understood to have been visiting from Israel. The deaths have left friends and colleagues shocked and devastated.
A Girguiding leader, Mrs Sella came to Cambridge from Israel in 2018 and worked at Cambridge Consultants as a senior engineer/physicist for two years and eight months, before moving to Cambridge Design Partnership in June 2021.
She had a BSc in physics from Tel Aviv University and an MSc in high energy astrophysics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Nitesh Bissendary has also been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a collision, drug-driving and failing to provide a sample for analysis, but has yet to enter a plea to the alleged offences.
