Drunk driver Aaron Smith who was high on cocaine ‘flew’ his car through the air, killing two pals in Rushden
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Visit Shots! now[1]A drink driver travelling at more than twice the speed limit ‘flew’ over a roundabout, killing two of his friends.
Aaron Smith was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison after a court heard how he had taken cocaine and cannabis and was twice the drink-drive limit when he got behind a wheel after a session at the King Edward VII pub in Rushden[2].
His friends Brian Sibanda, 21, and Carrie McLellan, 41, were in the back of the car but did not have their seatbelts on. They were both killed during the smash. Emotive victim impact statements read at a sentencing hearing heard how the lives of their loved ones had been ‘torn apart’.
Aaron Smith killed Carrie McLellan and Brian Sibanda, known to friends as Bizzle, when he drove his car drunk and high on drugs in Rushden. Image: National World / Northants Police
Northampton Crown Court heard eye-witness testimony that saw Smith’s BMW ‘fly’ over the roundabout in John Clark Way after the 29-year-old failed to brake.
The car hit the chevron edging, pivoted up and over the roundabout, rotating in the air before clipping a sign, ploughing into a post on the other side of the roundabout and coming to rest on its side in the bushes.
More than 25 friends and family were in the public gallery on Friday (May 3) to see distressing images of the unrecognisable vehicle following the crash.
Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Brian Sibanda with his mum Violet and Carrie McLellan, who died in a car driven by Aaron Smith in June 2022. Images: Northamptonshire Police
‘Say I wasn’t driving’
Prosecutor Jonathan Stone said that Smith, who gave his address as Grove Street, Higham Ferrers, had been drinking in the pub with Miss McLellan and Mr Sibanda on the night of June 3, 2022.
The group decided to have a party at Smith’s caravan at Billing Aquadrome, so just before 9pm they got in the car, along with Miss McLellan’s adult son Kane Groom, who was in the front of the car wearing a seatbelt.
‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing’
Aaron Smith, of Grove Street, Rushden, has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years for causing the death of two of his friends by dangerous driving. Image: Northamptonshire Police
Mr Groom’s evidence was read to the court. He said when he came around following the crash the car was on its side with the driver’s side touching the ground. He said: “It’s all a bit of a blur.
“I saw Aaron Smith walking back towards the car in handcuffs with a policeman. He said ‘Say I wasn’t driving’.”
An eyewitness driving his own car along Windsor Road just before the crash saw Smith’s car overshoot two junctions and clip a kerb. He had to stop to avoid hitting the BMW.
He saw Smith’s car continue into John Clark Way where he witnessed a man’s arm come out of the window and stick up two fingers at some pedestrians who were crossing the road.
The roundabout in John Clark Way where the fatal accident happened. Image: Alison Bagley
His statement said he believed the car to be travelling at about 60mph in the 30mph zone. He said: "I saw it go onto the roundabout. It was like it was flying over it.
"It was so high I could see underneath it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
He stopped, along with other motorists, to help the injured people.
A report from forensic collision investigator John Underwood presented to the court showed ‘no evidence of braking’ or defects on the vehicle.
He said that the last recorded speed of the BMW was 67mph.
He said: “The car hit the banked chevrons, launched over the roundabout, and hit a lamp on a sign on the other side of the roundabout.
"It was down to a lack of driver response indicative of the driver being affected by alcohol, drugs or a combination of the two.”
Tests showed cocaine, alcohol and cannabis in his system
Both victims were declared dead within an hour of the crash, Miss McLellan of a chest injury and Mr Sibanda after suffering a head injury.
Blood alcohol levels could not be taken from Smith until 1.30am. A back-calculation showed that he had about 157 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood at the time of the crash – almost twice the limit of 80mg.
He also had 196mg of benzoylecgonine – a metabolite of cocaine – in his blood. The limit is 50mg.
Tests also discovered a concentration of of 50mg of THC – a product of cannabis ingestion. The legal limit is 2mg.
In Smith’s first interview a week after the crash he made no comment. In a second interview a month later he denied being the driver of the car.
‘I can still hear the echo of his voice’
The families of both victims were emotional as victim personal statements were read to the court.
Mr Sibanda’s mum Violet Sibanda said her life had been ‘torn apart’ on June 3, 2022 when her ‘big bear’ died.
She said that she had found it difficult to hear Smith’s repeated denials of his guilt, and said that he had only eventually pleaded guilty three weeks ago for ‘selfish reasons’ and because he would get a lesser sentence.
"He knew what happened,” she said.
"And while it wouldn’t have brought Brian back to me, it would have brought some clarity and answered some of the questions we have had for almost two years.
"I can’t wrap my head around the fact that the person responsible, who was considered a friend, has until now not taken any ownership of what he did.
"We will be broken forever. I can still hear the echo of his voice.”
She said that her strong faith had wavered after her son’s death
‘That was the day my world came crashing down’
Ms McLellan’s partner of 24 years, Dean Groom, said that his life had been turned upside down by the loss of Carrie, the ‘happy-go-lucky centre of the family’.
"She was loved and adored by the people whose lives she touched,” he said.
"The cruel and horrific way she was taken has left us all heartbroken and devastated.”
“We met at the fair in 1998 and from that moment I knew that she was ‘my person.”
The pair had two children. He said their lives had ‘changed forever’ after the crash.
"A memory I can’t remove is the knock at the door by police informing us she’d died. That was the day my world came crashing down.
“I couldn’t believe what I was being told. I’d only left them hours earlier. I never once thought that would be the last time I saw Carrie alive.”
He said his daughter had been unable to complete her GCSEs. and that there had been times he was worried Kane would take his own life.
"I don’t know what my future holds,” he said. “But I can’t even think about life without my Carrie.”
‘That will haunt him for every day of his life’
Smith, a father-of-three, has five historic convictions including for GBH.
The court was told that the crash pre-dated by three weeks a change in the law that increased the maximum sentence available to the court from 14 years to one of life imprisonment.
Mitigating, James Gray, said his client was ‘not a habitual offender’.
He added: “There was no part of Mr Smith that was motivated or driven by any form of malice or ill-will to the two people that died.
"There was no part of him that wanted two of his friends to die that day.
"His behaviour was driven be a degree of immaturity. There were issues in his life that knocked him off-balance.
"He was masking his problems by taking alcohol and drugs.”
He said that Smith had showed ‘authentic and genuine remorse’, adding: “What will be at the forefront of his mind every single day for the rest of his life will be that he ended the lives of two of his friends, that he caused the pain in his community that we have seen. That will haunt him for every day of his life.”
Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane said: “You were in no fit state to be driving.
"Carrie McLellan and Brian Sibanda weren’t wearing seatbelts but I make it clear that the full responsibility lies with you and decision to drive while intoxicated, and your manner of driving.
"Brian was a loving, caring considerate young man with his whole life ahead of him.
"The lives of Carrie’s family will never be the same again.”
Smith’s family were audibly shocked as he was given two sentences of eight years and eight months to run concurrently. He will serve half (four years and four months) before he is released.
He was disqualified from driving for ten years and four months.
References
- ^ Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
- ^ Rushden (www.northantstelegraph.co.uk)