Woman lost her leg in crash caused by ‘selfish’ pensioner who wasn’t fit to drive
A woman lost her leg and was left in a coma after a “selfish” pensioner crashed into her. Catherine Brynach was also left with several fractures after 74-year-old Geoffrey Armstrong crashed his red Volkswagen work van on Market Place in Canton, Cardiff, on October 20, 2020.
Armstrong suffered what is known as a focal seizure before he crashed into a parked blue Nissan at 19mph. CCTV footage played at a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday showed the Nissan being forced into the mother-of-four, who was out shopping at the time, WalesOnline reports.[1]
The crash, which trapped Mrs Brynach between the car and the wall for several minutes, was such that she suffered several bone fractures, lost one of her legs, and had to undergo several operations while in an induced coma. The court heard how the defendant “would have known or strongly suspected” he suffered with epilepsy, had ignored numerous signs that he shouldn’t be driving in the years prior to the incident, ignored his doctor’s advice to speak to the DVLA, and made the “selfish” decision to drive again on the day he almost killed Mrs Brynach.
Judge David Wynn Morgan told Armstrong before sentencing him: “This was not an accident. It is a crime with tragic consequences because you knew there was a possibility you were suffering with this condition.”
Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, told the court: “He was aware at the time of the offence that he suffered from an illness which showed itself in blackouts. He knew it was a condition which made it dangerous for him to drive but he continued to drive regardless, running the risk of causing a serious traffic accident.”
Taking the court through a timeline of events prior to the offence, Mr Gobir explained how the defendant first discussed whether he should be driving with a doctor in May 2017. He discussed with his GP Dr Lewis how he was having issues with “absences lasting around 20 seconds”.
He was referred by Dr Lewis to consultant Dr Joseph, and in January 2018 he was diagnosed as suffering with seizures. In the same appointment he was advised not to drive.
Mr Gobir explained how GP records show on February 6, 2018, in an appointment with Dr Lewis, epilepsy was mentioned. “The defendant must have known he was an epilepsy sufferer or strongly suspected he was since that time,” Mr Gobir said.
Armstrong had a similar discussion again in March 2018 with Dr Joseph who again advised he didn’t drive. That conversation was repeated in June 2018, Mr Gobir explained.
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In December 2018 records show that Dr Joseph told the defendant he had to be seizure-free for at least 12 months before the DVLA would allow him to drive. What neither of Armstrong’s doctors knew was that he had actually never contacted the DVLA to tell them about his condition.
In June 2019 Armstrong told Dr Joseph he’d just started driving again. “The defendant must have known he was risking a serious road traffic accident by continuing to drive at that point,” Mr Gobir said.
On October 20, immediately after the collision, Armstrong returned to his vehicle but he’d been blocked from driving on by passersby who ran to assist Mrs Brynach. While paramedics helped Mrs Brynach, the defendant, then 71, swore at a woman who told him to get out of the car, the court heard, before giving false accounts to a PCSO and three police officers, telling them he had swerved out the way of the Nissan which he claimed was speeding at the time.
He also said he had never hit the Nissan and actually went straight into double doors of a building beside the Nissan. CCTV footage obtained from Chapter Arts Centre later showed the defendant had clearly failed to stop at the junction, hit the parked Nissan which then hit Mrs Brynach.
In a second police interview in March 2021, after having been shown the footage, the defendant agreed it showed that no other car was driving towards his vehicle as he’d initially claimed. “I may have blacked out,” he told officers from South Wales Police, telling them that he suffers with a medical condition which causes the blackouts. He told officers that he was unaware he had to tell the DVLA about the condition, and said “no-one” had told him he had to.
In a victim impact statement which Mrs Brynach read herself in court, she said the “impact” of the collision has been “immense”, adding that the memory of it “haunts” her. “I didn’t just lose my leg. The impact of the collision fractured my spine, I fractured my pelvis in four places, I fractured my cheekbone. I was put into an induced coma for a week.”
She told the court how she had previously been a lively and energetic teaching assistant specialising in helping children who needed extra support, “kneeling and bending beside them” for much of the day and “walking up and down corridors”. She explained how she hasn’t been able to work since the collision and spends a lot of time in the house.
Sue Ferrier, for Armstrong, said her client “deeply regrets” what he did. She pointed out that he has no previous convictions and no previous offences on his record. “He even had an unblemished driving record (prior to the offence),” she told the court. “He has been married for 50 years and he has a large family that have been present with him throughout this horrible journey,” she said.
“He was suffering from focal seizures. Afterwards a person would be confused because they have lost that moment. He was unaware of this, but his wife was concerned that from time to time he would appear distant for some time.
“When he was told to stop driving he did for some time and when he began driving again he told his doctor and nothing has been recorded that he was told not to. This case is not someone deliberately driving against medical advice.”
Ms Ferrier asked the court to consider that the defendant’s “sinister attitude” immediately after the collision might have been due to his medical condition and because he could have been confused. She added that he had since made “significant adjustments” to his life.
Sentencing Armstrong, of Oaks Close in Bedwas, to two years, one year of which he will serve in prison, Judge Wynn Morgan said: “On October 20, 2020, you were driving your van towards Market Place in Canton when you reached the junction with Market Road. You did not stop, you drove straight across the road and collided with a parked vehicle.
“The force of that collision forced the vehicle across the pavement and into the wall of a building. In between the car and the wall was Mrs Brynach, who had been engaging in a perfectly normal shopping expedition. She was crushed and sustained catastrophic injuries, the most serious of which led to her losing her leg.
“Had this been the first occasion you suffered a seizure this could be described as a tragic accident. It is not, however. It is a crime with tragic consequences because you knew that there was a possibility you were suffering with this condition.
“Your failure to inform the DVLA was selfish because you wanted to retain your freedom to drive. On October 20, 2020, you were a risk to other road users and pedestrians and you knew it. You should not have been driving and had you not have been driving then Mrs Brynach would be enjoying the life she was enjoying before this.”
References
- ^ WalesOnline reports. (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Wrong-way A55 driver, high street cannabis farmers and ‘gunman’ among criminals jailed in July (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ click here (www.dailypost.co.uk)