Man who fell asleep while driving after Snowdon climb left friend with life-changing injuries
A man who fell asleep while driving after climbing Yr Wyddfa [Snowdon] crashed and left his friend with "life-changing" injuries. Anthony Churchill, of Gladstone Close in Weymouth, had been awake for around 24 hours before nodding off and crashing into an oncoming vehicle. At a previous court hearing, the 29-year-old admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving in the Glyndyfrdwy area of Denbighshire[1] earlier this summer.
Prosecutor Laura Knightly told the court that the 29-year-old had been involved in a two-vehicle crash on the A5[2] in June 17. He had been in the North Wales area the night before, having travelled up to Eryri from Dorset to climb Yr Wyddfa with a friend - Mateusz Szwarc. The court heard they arrived at the foot of the mountain in the late hours of Friday night, at about 10.30pm, and stayed up "to watch the sunrise".
The men did climb the mountain that morning but did not stay long at the peak, said Ms Knightly, due to "wet and cold conditions". Churchill drove his Nissan Juke once they made it back down to the ground and set off at around 7.30am to find some food. They travelled along the A5 before the crash occurred less than an hour later between Corwen and Llangollen[5].
The defendant drove onto the wrong side of the road twice during the journey before driving into the path of oncoming traffic, smashing head first into a Mercedes. The court watched footage taken from Churchill's own dashcam which saw the black CLS spin off to the side of the road before stopping. The court was told that whilst Churchill and the Mercedes driver escaped with minor injuries, Mr Szwarc suffered spinal and rib fractures as well as "cuts and bruises all over his body".
Ms Knightly said that he required surgery for the injuries, labelled in court as "life-changing", but they would not impact Mr Szwarc's ability to return to work as a bricklayer or go about daily life. The prosecutor said that Churchill told police who attended that he "felt himself dozing off" and had not slept for about 24 hours in the lead-up to the crash. He accepted in a later police interview that he drove past suitable places to stop and rest, despite his tiredness, and "fell asleep whilst driving".
Defending, Simon Killeen, said his client was nothing but remorseful for what he had caused a "close friend" to suffer.
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He said the 29-year-old "made a poor decision" but the incident hasn't caused his friendship to break down, with the court being told that the men still speak "most days". The judge, Rhys Rowlands, felt able to suspend the 14-month sentence for 18 months. He said: "You caused a very serious injury to a workmate and friend.
Plainly you should not have been driving at that time because you were too tired and that is something that would have been obvious to you. "You ignored that and, effectively, decided to take a risk." He told the defendant that all of this could have been avoided had he "used common sense" and not driven in the first place. The judge accepted that prison would not be a beneficial way of punishing Churchill in this case.
The dad-of-one was told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also fined GBP1,500, along with covering prosecution costs and contributing to the victim surcharge. The judge also banned Churchill from driving for two years.
He will need to take an extended test after that ban has finished in 2025 to get back behind the wheel again.
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References
- ^ Denbighshire (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ had been involved in a two-vehicle crash on the A5 (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ HMP Berwyn prison tutor tried to smuggle Spice on paper to inmates (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Man who'd drunk 'pints and vodka' caused Llandudno Junction crash that left woman with broken back (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Llangollen (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Caernarfon (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Llandudno (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Mold (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ click here (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ North Wales Court Reports Facebook group (www.facebook.com)
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