Essex delivery driver fell asleep behind wheel before fatal crash
The van veered on to the wrong side of the A131 near Twinsted, between Halstead and Sudbury, where a group of bikers were travelling. The van collided head-on with Andrew Rayner, 44, from Wickford. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, Mr Rayner was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dohmatob, whose work van crashed into a ditch, was uninjured, but refused to give police officers a saliva test. Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Monday he had been consuming cannabis the night before the incident and was heavily sleep deprived. 
Gavin Burrell, prosecuting, said Dohmatob was caught on CCTV in the van looking tired and unwell, before falling asleep, unable to steer the vehicle on a bend and going on to the oncoming lane. Mr Burrell told police he "nodded off" before the incident and had been "smoking a spliff" the night prior. Accounts made by the defendant, his partner, and analysis of his phone use revealed he had been sleep deprived in the 31 hours before the fatal collision.
Members of Mr Rayner's family attended the sentencing hearing and were in tears as they read out statements. Speaking about her fiance, Rachel Lee said: "He was always helping people less fortunate than him. "I have trouble sleeping, anxiety and every time I hear a motorbike my stomach drops.
I had to identify him in the cold mortuary at Colchester Hospital. I cannot describe how horrific that was. "I feel completely and utterly broken."
Mr Rayner also leaves a teenage son with Down syndrome, who is still suffering from the loss, according to his mother. In a statement, read by Mr Burrell, she said: "Tom is convinced I was going to die when he would go to school. "Even a year later I hear him scream under the shower."
Kane Sharp, mitigating, read out a letter written by Dohmatob, expressing his remorse. It read: "I write with a weight I can barely carry. I am so very sorry.
There is no excuse, no justification. "I hope the family can forgive me." Dohmatob had admitted to using a mobile phone and refusing to give a specimen in relation to the incident at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court earlier this year, and admitted to causing death by dangerous driving[1] on Friday.
Judge Christopher told him: "You have robbed a family of a son, a partner, a brother and a father. "He had said goodbye to his partner, and it was their intention to be married in September this year. That day he would have gone out to choose his wedding rings.
"Mr Rayner, as described by his motorcycling colleagues, had no chance." Mentioning the defendant's prior convictions of drink-driving and driving under the influence of cannabis and cocaine, Judge Morgan said he displayed a "pattern of behaviour" where he presented a "huge risk to other motor users" after taking substances. Dohmatob, of Rossington Close, Enfield, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison and will be disqualified from driving for nine years, ten months and 15 days.
He must also pay GBP228 to the court.
References
- ^ admitted to causing death by dangerous driving (www.halsteadgazette.co.uk)