Teen crash victim ‘let down by system’ as speeding driver walks free from court

The father of a teenager who was the victim of a head-on smash caused by a speeding driver near Nottingham told a court he feels “let down by the police[1] and the system” after the man who caused it escaped immediate custody. David Stack’s dad told Nottingham Crown Court “I just think we have been sold short” after hearing that 24-year-old Aaron Le would not be sent immediately to prison for overtaking on a blind summit and hitting a car being driven by his then 18-year-old son. Mr Stack, now 19[2], amazingly only suffered minor injuries in the crash caused by the defendant near Ruddington and which saw his car end up in a hedge.

But in a statement read to the court he told how he has recurring nightmares about it and that in them “there are one million outcomes to the crash and they are all fatal”. Addressing the court, his father said: “I just think we have been sold short.[3] The system has let us down, we have been let down by the police and let down by the system. This is not justice, we came here for justice.”

Do you feel safe in the city centre?[4] Handing Le a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “I recognise there is tension and I recognise there is a victim in court who feels aggrieved by the system and who will hold little truck with the sentencing guidelines, but it is there for a purpose and i must honour it. You effected an overtaking manoeuvre on the brow of a hill and it was a highly-dangerous manoeuvre which could have easily have resulted in one or more fatalities.

“It is sometimes bewildering for those of us who sit in these courts hearing cases like this how it is, that after a collision that results in the kind of damage I can see in the photos, people actually survive at all. What you have to bear in mind is how you would feel if someone had played Russian roulette (like this) with not just your life but perhaps your partner’s life as well.” Esther Harrison, prosecuting, said the incident happened on the A60 between Ruddington and Bunny at around 9.20pm on March 2, 2023.

She said a witness, who was driving away from Nottingham in his car, was overtaken at more than the 50mph limit by the defendant who was behind the wheel of a high-powered Toyota Supra. The prosecutor said Le went over the solid white centre line and failed to see Mr Stack who was driving in the direction of Ruddington and who also had a passenger in his car. Miss Harrison said: “The witness tried to slow down to allow the defendant time to pull in but he was too close and was going too fast and there was a head-on collision.

“Both cars rolled over and Mr Stack’s car ended up in a hedge and was a complete write-off and he was taken to hospital. There were no permanent injuries but he says there is still discomfort when he turns his head.” Miss Harrison read out a victim impact statement made by Mr Stack.

In it he said he has been diagnosed with clinical depression and posttraumatic stress disorder since the collision. In the statement he said: “I am constantly getting flashbacks and when I have nightmares there are one million outcomes to the crash and they are all fatal. I am paranoid of other drivers and it has made me a horrendously-anxious passenger.

I have lost friends, I cannot see one because I would have to drive past the crash scene to see him and another no longer trusts my driving. I feel betrayed.” Le, of King Crescent North, Loughborough, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and has no convictions or cautions to his name.

Harry Bowyer, mitigating, said the defendant works as a software engineer specialising in the financial market and that if he were sent immediately to prison it would mean the defendant’s partner, who was in court to support him, would have to give up the flat they live in together.

He said: “This was a gross error of judgement, the road itself, which your honour knows very well, is straight.” As part of the suspended sentence order, the judge ordered Le to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and disqualified him from driving for three years.

References

1. ^ police (www.nottinghampost.com)
2. ^ Mr Stack, now 19 (www.nottinghampost.com)
3. ^ “I just think we have been sold short. (www.nottinghampost.com)
4. ^ Do you feel safe in the city centre? (xd.wayin.com)