Mum killed and son seriously injured by overtaking Audi driver in the wrong lane
A dangerous driver has been jailed after a crash that killed a much-loved mum and seriously injured her son. A court heard how Jacqueline Hwila had been returning to Swansea[1] from a holiday in Ireland when she collided with Emma Morris’s car on the Y Felinheli bypass near Bangor[2].
The Audi 3 driver had crossed a double white line to overtake traffic but crashed into Emma’s Peugeot 208, which flipped over. Emma, 28, died “virtually instantaneously” while her son Jack Williams, then aged four, was seriously injured and her new partner James Walsh was also hurt.
In an emotional hearing at Caernarfon[3] Crown Court, Jack’s dad Osian Williams, who was not in the car, said in a statement that nothing would ever replace Jack’s mother’s love. The judge described the loss of Emma for her two boys Jack – and Tommy – as “indescribably awful”.
The judge His Honour Timothy Petts, told Hwila, 51, in the dock, she had tried to overtake deliberately but did not intend to drive dangerously. He jailed her for seven years and four months for causing death by dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Simon Rogers said Emma had been to a GP in Pwllheli[6] over a concern over Jack’s health and had been advised to go to a hospital. She was travelling towards Caernarfon on the A487 on April 3 last year.
Mr Rogers said passenger James Walsh had been looking down at his phone when he heard Emma say words to the effect “Oh s***”. He looked up and saw an oncoming car in their outside lane.
The dark grey Audi A3 collided with Emma’s Peugeot. Mr Walsh said on impact he “felt like he was losing breath”. Their car ended up upside down. A BMW 1 series car and Skoda Octavia were also caught up in the smash. He crawled out of a smashed window and called out to Emma but there was no reply, said the prosecutor. Jack was crying.
Witness Malcolm Williams was driving uphill in his Skoda towards Bangor. As he approached the overbridge, he heard a “terrible, loud screeching, metallic noise”.
His car was struck in the aftermath and he couldn’t open his car door. He sustained a cut to the top of his head among other injuries and spent several weeks in hospital.
The A487 between Y Felinheli and Caernarfon was closed following the crash
The court heard today Jack suffered brain bleeds, multiple neck and spine and other fractures and reduced consciousness. Emergency crews took Jack to Ysbyty Gwynedd[7] then the regional trauma unit at Alder Hey Hospital on Merseyside.
Mr Walsh suffered a collapsed left lung and a fractured hand. Ms Hwila spent two days in hospital with her injuries.
Mr Rogers, prosecuting, said she told police that there were two lanes in each direction. She moved into the lane in the middle and (then) wanted to move (back) to the left.”
But there was a black car on one side and three cars on her other side. She said: “There was no way out so I just kept driving”. She screamed just before impact and her airbags deployed.
Police found she had accelerated from 65mph to 69mph before the collision. An expert found: “She contravened the solid, double, white lines in attempting an overtaking manoeuvre and drove into Bangor (bound) lane two.”
If the Audi had stayed in the Caernarfon-bound lane the accident would have been avoided, he concluded.
Mr Rogers read out powerful statements from relatives. Emma’s dad Stephen Morris said his “radiant” daughter[8] had been taken away with “savage force”. “Her life was torn from her body,” he wrote. “The pain of losing your only child cuts like a knife.” He said she had a new house but hadn’t even gone through the front door which was effectively slammed shut by her death.
Emma Morris (Image: UGC)
He said: “The shock and horror of looking at my girl in the Chapel of Rest – so cold and lifeless – torments me.” Emma’s mother Julie Morris said the way her daughter died was so cruel.
She said her boys Jack and Tommy had lost their mother and it “tears up my heart” Emma had been making every day an adventure for them.”
She said: “Everybody who knew Emma has been robbed of this beautiful person.” Emma’s grandmother no longer drives as she is nervous as the collision “replays in her head”.
In his statement, Jack’s dad Osian Williams said he has had short term memory loss and faces neurological and spinal procedures. He said nothing will replace his mother’s love and support.
And James Walsh says he thinks about the incident every day and especially when he goes to work which is the same workplace Emma had. Pretending he is OK to colleagues is really an act, he added.
Richard Dawson, defending, said charity worker Hwila’s driving had catastrophic consequences and she is profoundly sorry. She knows she is responsible[9] for a void that can never be filled.
She sends money to relatives in Zambia and her imprisonment will have an effect on them. A psychologist says she has post traumatic stress which has triggered memories of a difficult childhood and abusive marriage.
The judge His Honour Timothy Petts sent Emma’s family his sympathy at this time of “unimaginable grief” in these “horrendous” circumstances.
Turning to Hwila, of White Street, Swansea, he said she had been driving from Holyhead[10] to Swansea and tried to overtake uphill. Emma’s death would have been “virtually instantaneous”.
He jailed her for seven years and four months for causing Emma’s death by dangerous driving. He also gave her concurrent sentences for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Investigating Officer, PC Gareth Rogers of the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit said: “While Mwila is now behind bars for this offence, nothing is going to bring Emma back, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with her family and friends, who have suffered unimaginable devastation.
“There is no sentence that can ever replace the hole that has been left in their lives, but we hope the passing of this sentence will act as a reminder to all drivers that momentary decisions to lose concentration can have devastating consequences.”
The family of Emma Louise Morris said, after sentencing: “There is no real justice for Emma. Jaqueline Mwila caused her death by dangerous driving, and although she pleaded guilty to all the charges against her, the sentence she was given does not go nearly far enough for us as a family.
“Our lives have been changed forever, shattered, mutilated by the recklessness and carelessness of this woman who chose to drive so dangerously as to kill our daughter without any regard for other road users that day.”
References
- ^ Swansea (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Bangor (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Caernarfon (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Burglar broke into woman’s home and hung out her washing on the line (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Driver rammed into police car after driving at 90mph and wrote off parked cars (www.walesonline.co.uk)
- ^ Pwllheli (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Gwynedd (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ his “radiant” daughter (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ She knows she is responsible (www.dailypost.co.uk)
- ^ Holyhead (www.dailypost.co.uk)