Anguish of crash woman’s family as driver pleads to lesser charge
THE father of a Lisburn woman left with life-changing injuries after her boyfriend crashed his car has said they are devastated that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Hungarian national Beres Szaboles (28) was due to go on trial at Newtownards Crown Court accused of causing grievous bodily injury to Anastassiya Kravstova (also known as Anastassiya Phillips) by dangerous driving.
Ms Kravstova suffered multiple injuries in the one-vehicle accident and has been left in a wheelchair as a result.
But with the jury sworn in and ready to hear evidence, Szaboles instead pleaded guilty to a lesser offence.
The victim’s father, Paul Phillips, said the latest development had left a sour taste in their mouths.
After an additional count was added to the indictment, Szaboles, with an address at Hillfoot Crescent in Ballynahinch, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily injury by driving carelessly on the Magheraknock Road in the town in March 2015.
Before he was initially charged, Szaboles fled Northern Ireland but was detained in Copenhagen under a European Arrest Warrant.
In court yesterday, prosecuting lawyer Laura Ievers said that in light of the guilty plea, she was asking for the first count to be left on the books while defence counsel Conan Rea applied for sentencing to be adjourned for a pre-sentence probation report.
He asked Judge Piers Grant to sentence Szaboles before the summer break if the report was ready in time, revealing that “if there’s any slippage in the sentencing date,” he might apply for bail.
Remanding Szaboles into custody, Judge Grant said he would pass sentence on July 3.
Mr Phillips said outside court that the lesser charge was devastating.
“It’s been turbulent for the family this week. At the very last minute we were told the charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily injury had to be changed,” he explained. Mr Phillips said the defence had commissioned an engineer’s report on the vehicle which produced new evidence, causing prosecutors to feel they could no longer pass the evidential threshold for dangerous driving. “This led us to total breakdown, Anastassiya and her mum just went to pieces,” said Mr Phillips.
“Anastassiya couldn’t even make it to court. I went and saw he pleaded guilty to the new offence.
“It doesn’t give us comfort he’s pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, we were looking for justice. He may have been given a custodial sentence of between five to 10 years under the original charge.
“But it’s very much sour milk in our mouths now, this lesser charge could carry a non-custodial sentence with something like community service.
“Right now we just feel most definitely that justice has not been done, if you weigh it against what Anastassiya has suffered and will suffer for the rest of her life.”
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) spokesperson said: “The PPS welcomes Beres Szaboles’ guilty plea in the Crown Court and we hope this brings some comfort to Anastassiya and her family.
“The PPS accepted the plea to careless driving causing grievous bodily injury after reviewing recently received forensic evidence.
“In light of this new evidence, the test for prosecution was applied and it was clear that there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily injury. This decision was made in accordance with the PPS Code for Prosecutors, and we have met with Anastassiya and her family to explain how this decision was reached.”
They added: “As the case is still before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Mr Phillips went on to question why prosecutors had not requested their own engineer’s report on the vehicle after the crash in 2015.
The PPS said such reports were normally only requested in the case of fatal crashes.