Driver spared prison despite leaving teen in wheelchair
ADRIVER who caused “catastrophic” injuries to a teenage girl when he jumped a red light at a crossing in Birmingham has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Gemma Coates, aged 15, was left wheelchair bound and unable to walk, talk or feed herself after Ben Storey ploughed into her.
Storey, 31, of Larne Road, Yardley, who had previously admitted a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was sentenced to two years jail suspended for two years.
He was also banned from the roads for five years.
But the sentence was slammed by Gemma’s grandfather who said: “He has walked free with a five-year ban.
Andrew Coates, who said his granddaughter was in a rehabilitation facility in London, added: “It is absolutely disgusting.
“If he had got ten years’ hard labour that would not have been enough.”
Christopher Lester, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said the tragedy happened at around 7.30am on Thursday, February 16, this year. Gemma had been on her way to school and had walked to traffic lights in Church Road, Sheldon.
“She pressed the button on the lights and waited to cross. When the lights turned to red she began to cross.
“Whereupon the defendant’s Fiesta van drove through the red and struck her,” Mr Lester said.
Storey stopped, as did a number of other motorists, and he sought to call an ambulance.
Members of the public, including a doctor, went to help the young girl and she was taken to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
“There are medical reports which detail the catastrophic injuries the young woman has sustained, both physically and to her brain,” said Mr Lester. There is also a victim personal statement by Gemma’s mother which Ford light describes the devastating effect both to her daughter and the entire family.”
He said as far as any recovery was concerned it was a case of “time will tell”.
Mr Lester went on: “She has been in hospital in one form or another every day since the incident. She is receiving ongoing and extensive medical treatment which she is likely to receive for the rest of her life.
Judge Roderick Henderson told Storey: “As a result of your criminal behaviour, you disobeyed a red light on a pelican crossing, hit her and caused her devastating injuries. She was not far from safety.
“She is a much loved daughter, intelligent, kind and generous. I have read the most heartbreaking statement from her mother.”
But he went on: “Your remorse is genuine in this case and this was a desperate mistake with desperate consequences rather than conscious bad driving.”
Sunit Sandhu, defending, said: “This is not a man who shirked his responsibilities that fell upon him in the aftermath of this offence.
“He continues to be devastated and lives an insular life.”