Company boss who crashed truck in Pluckley after party left employee with severe brain injury
A man left with a devastating brain injury after his boss crashed a truck after drinking has told him in court: "I hate what you've turned me into." Robert King, 30, was knocked unconscious and suffered multiple fractures when Jack O'Donnell ploughed into a tree in Pluckley while driving staff home from a leaving party.
But rather than call 999 immediately, Mr King's colleagues walked half-a-mile back to their workplace - the luxury bathroom outfit Catchpole and Rye - to retrieve a van. Returning to the scene of the crash, a member of the group then placed Mr King in the back of the vehicle and drove him to their warehouse, where the emergency services were finally alerted.
Meanwhile, O'Donnell - who had remained with his smashed-up Toyota Hilux - had telephoned and enlisted the help of a nearby farmer to drag the truck from a ditch. But when police arrived on that fateful night in May 2023, he fled across a field while appearing "highly intoxicated", before officers caught up with him. O'Donnell's sentencing hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday heard he refused to perform a roadside breath test but, when searched, the keys to his Toyota were found and he was arrested.
The 27-year-old, of Beachborough, Folkestone[1], originally denied causing serious injury to Mr King by dangerous driving.
He also denied a charge of perverting the course of justice - namely arranging for evidence to be moved from a crime scene - on the same date. But the operations manager of the family firm did plead guilty to the lesser charge of causing serious injury by careless driving before trial, which carries a maximum of two years imprisonment, alongside a separate charge of failing to provide a specimen for analysis. Appearing in the dock before a packed public gallery, O'Donnell could be seen breathing heavily, eyes to the ground, as Mr King and his parents read victim impact statements.
As the courtroom fell silent, Mr King, from Whitstable, spoke from the witness box to urge his former friend to look him in the eye. "Your actions have left me a pathetic, useless shell of a person," he said. "I am not and I will never be the person I was meant to be.
"My career prospects are in tatters, I have no idea to what extent I will ever be able to work again, I have no idea if I will ever be able to support myself.
"I am 30, but I have regressed into a 10-year-old."
He told O'Donnell he had damaged the "one organ" that controls "literally everything", adding: "Not one aspect of me works as it should". Describing how he feels as if he is a "zombie-like-robot", Mr King said he yearns to trade places with O'Donnell. "I hate what you have turned me into," he said.
"Someone dangles this carrot of what I used to be in front of me, but every single day it is unattainable.
"You are a smart boy, you have access to so much - use this as a changing point. "Stop asking daddy for stuff and stop only caring only for yourself. "Finally, I expected you to have been looking at the floor, like the coward who nearly killed me.
"I ask you to look me in the eye."
When O'Donnell did, Mr King said: "I forgive you". The court heard the group had started drinking at the Swan Inn in Little Chart at 5.30pm to celebrate Mr King's last day with the firm, and then went onto the Rose and Crown near Pluckley at 9.30pm.
CCTV played in court showed the moment the five were leaving the venue, with O'Donnell behind the wheel of his truck. The vehicle could be seen lurching, reversing erratically, speeding up and suddenly braking, then coming to an abrupt halt before entering Mundy Bois Road.
Prosecutor Caroline Knight said: "He lost control on a slight bend, crashed into a tree and into a ditch."
When police investigated the crash site near the junction of Sparrow Hatch Lane and Surrenden Road, the grass verge had been flattened for 36 feet. Having fallen into a coma following the accident, Mr King was taken to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital before being transferred to London King's College Hospital, where he remained for weeks. Describing the trauma the family suffered at the hands of O'Donnell's, Mr King's father, Alan King, said from the witness box that the crash was the moment "everything changed".
"Nothing will ever prepare you for the sight of one of your children hooked up to a multitude of life support equipment and little chance of survival," he added.
He told the court he felt "deeply let down by the judiciary and Crown Prosecution Service", before turning his attention to O'Donnell. "Your decisions before the accident were arrogant and stupid, your actions afterwards were cold, selfish and despicable," he said. As O'Donnell could be seen weeping in the dock, he added: "This was your employee, your colleague, somebody who, at one stage, you called friend.
"You had over 18 months to plead guilty, but waited until you knew when a deal could be done to avoid the most serious consequences of your actions."
Mr King told O'Donnell he suffered a "recurring nightmare of you in a pub bragging that you got away with it again".
"You are still a young man, and we don't want your life to be eaten away by guilt," he said, adding he hopes the incident will "provide an opportunity to change". Robert King's mum, Jackie King, said she did not know "whose idea it was, or who" pulled her son from the truck. "But I do know Mr O'Donnell was busy phoning the farmer to pull his car out of the ditch to save his driver's licence rather than save my son's life," she said.
"Jack, you have an extremely privileged life, and this seems to have spoiled you." When held in custody, O'Donnell answered 'no comment' to all questions and told officers he was unable to provide a specimen as he was afraid of needles. Mitigating, O'Donnell's barrister, Alistair Smith, said his client was of previous good character and accepts he had consumed alcohol that evening.
He argued O'Donnell had himself been knocked unconscious in the accident and, after which, had felt genuine remorse over his actions. A character reference read out in court from O'Donnell's father said there was "no risk of reoffending of any type". "He is a defendant who has developed in terms of his maturity, as well as his awareness and critical thinking skills from reflecting on his actions that night," it added.
When asked, Judge Sarah Counsell granted O'Donnell the right to address Mr King, whom he had not seen for two years, directly from the dock. Getting to his feet, he said: "I am truly, truly, truly sorry, and to everyone Jackie, Alan, everyone, I am truly, truly sorry." Handing down a 10-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, Judge Counsell said: "What happened on that evening was a tragic incident.
"It has impacted everyone in the vehicle, their families, and the wider community.
"Undoubtedly, the serious injuries caused to Robert King are serious and lifelong. "Because you failed to provide a sample we cannot say objectively how much your driving was impaired by alcohol. "Having looked at all the evidence, it seems to me the collision happened because you were driving too fast and lost control.
"No doubt your driving was emboldened by your knowledge of the road, but also impacted by your use of alcohol." She told O'Donnell Mr King had delivered a "visceral and profound" victim statement, having suffered brain injuries, multiple fractures and an injured lung. "We had a remarkable exchange between you and Mr King in court, no doubt for the first time seeing each other for two years," he said.
"He asked you to look him in the eyes and you did, and he said, 'I forgive you'." She handed O'Donnell a four-month curfew from 8pm until 6am, 180 hours of unpaid work, five rehabilitation activity requirement sessions, and a two-year driving ban. He was also ordered to pay GBP1,000 costs which, his barrister said, can be paid within 30 days.
A family statement following the hearing said: "We are proud of our brave, strong, courageous and forgiving son.
"We would like to thank PC Essen Larrson for her diligence and dedication throughout."
References
- ^ Folkestone (www.kentonline.co.uk)