Eka Schofield inquest findings after death on A39 Penryn bypass

An inquest heard that Ekaterina Karalashvili - known as Eka and by her married surname of Schofield - was also probably wearing ear pods connected to her mobile phone when she was knocked down by a VW Transporter van.

Police investigators said Eka, 33, was a Georgian national, who had moved to Mabe with her husband of ten months Zev Schofield.

PC Penny Loftus said Eka was distracted by the use of her mobile phone and there was evidence that headphones were attached to the phone.

She told an inquest on Thursday that Eka was running to catch a bus and looked left instead of right as she crossed the A39 Penryn by-pass and unfortunately collided with the front of the VW van.

The van driver said Eka was holding a phone to her right ear but looked to the left, adding that it was an accident which happened “on a foreign road” in seconds.

The left hand drive van had no time to stop as she crossed into his path, as he drove at between 40 and 48mph on the 60mph main road.

Eka was flown to a Plymouth hospital but died from head, chest and abdominal wounds which the inquest heard were “unsurvivable”.

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Two eye witnesses said Eka ran out into the road as she looked the 'wrong' way and she emerged from a heavily overgrown path with protruding trees.

Flowers at the the crossing on A39 where Eka died

Eka's husband Zev said after a long distance romance she came to the UK in June 2021 and they were married in Cornwall in August 2021.

The tragic collision happened in June 2022 as carer Eka was travelling to her second job as a housekeeper and cleaner in a pub.

He said he had no ill feeling to the van driver but said the pedestrian island road crossing was a “disaster waiting to happen” and demanded changes to it, branding it “dangerous”.

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The assistant coroner Guy Davies said: "Eka died when she ran over the A39 after looking the wrong way and failing to see or hear oncoming traffic."

He said the van driver had “a split second” to react and was not to blame for the unavoidable collision.

Mr Davies said Eka “had not been in the UK for that long” and traffic flow in Georgia works in the opposite direction, adding that her husband had been with her before when she had looked the wrong way before crossing a road.

He said Eka, who had a ten-year-old son, would have been further distracted by her ear pods and mobile phone, which would have prevented her from hearing oncoming vehicles.

Cornwall Council said the road had a good safety record and pedestrians have a ten second window to see approaching traffic, but said a process to improve pedestrian safety was underway.

A conclusion of death caused by a road traffic collision was recorded.