Death crash driver sentenced

12:20pm Friday 4th July 2008

A young driver, who knocked down and killed a 91-year-old widow near her home in Penparc before driving away and not reporting the accident has been fined and had penalty points imposed on his driving licence.

Following the incident on the A487 road at 5.40pm on Thursday, November 29 last year Marged Griffiths was taken by ambulance to Glangwili Hospital where she died from her injuries.

Crown prosecutor Susan Crossley told magistrates in Cardigan that Mrs. Griffiths was crossing the main road from the home of Mr. Dan Davies who has since also deceased. He told police he saw a flash, heard a knock and "the whole thing was over."

People at a nearby garage heard a very loud bang and ran out to see what had happened. They saw Mrs. Griffiths lying partly on the pavement with her legs in the road.

The prosecutor said that the following day following police inquiries 20-year-old Simon Christopher Dale was arrested at the QinetiQ base in Aberporth on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving Dale, of 8 Anwylfan, Aberporth, who was represented by James Subiani, pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.

In an interview with police Dale said he was travelling at a speed of between 35 and 45mph. There were no street lights and he saw a person in the middle of the dual carriageway. It was too late to brake and he swerved to the right. He heard a thud and later noticed that the wing mirror was bent.

The following morning he saw scratches on the front bumper and replaced it.

Mr. Subiani said Dale was driving towards Cardigan and slowed down inside the speed limit. He said a police expert was of the view that the driver would have been18 _ metres from Mrs. Griffiths and would have had only a second to react.

He said Dale, who was driving a silver Volvo, saw a person with a bag on the shoulder and became aware that the wing mirror had been hit.

He looked in the rear mirror and didn't see anything.

"He thought it was teenagers playing ridiculous games in the main road," said Mr. Subiani.

Dale carried on driving, bought petrol at Tesco and went with a friend from Cilgerran to the Leisure Centre in Cardigan.

He went on to say that the next day he visited a scrap yard for a wing mirror and later a work colleague at QinetiQ told him there had been a hit and run incident.

"Before he could do anything police were with him. The consequences were tragic. There are no winners here," he said.

Mr. Subiani said the police expert concluded that there were no street lights and only limited lighting from two petrol filling stations.

The offside lane from where Mrs. Griffiths was crossing was in virtual darkness and she was wearing predominantly dark clothing.

It would have taken her about seven seconds to cross the road and she would have seen the lights of the car some 300 metres away.

"His not stopping was an aberration as far as he is concerned and he will have to live with this for the rest of his life," he said.

Before passing sentence presiding magistrate Ellen Fitzpatrick said "For the benefit of members of Mrs. Griffiths' family at the back of the court I would like to stress that we are not here to judge the quality of driving."

She told Dale "It was not your fault or Mrs. Griffiths' fault. It was just an accident.

"You knew you'd hit someone, failed to stop and failed to report the accident."

Dale was fined £700 for failing to stop and there was no separate penalty for failing to report the accident.

He was ordered to pay £60 costs with £15 government surcharge and eight penalty points were imposed on his driving licence.