Drink driver left female passenger paralysed
‘Reckless’ father-to-be jailed for horrific Birmingham crash
A‘‘RECKLESS’’ drink-driver smashed his Ford Focus into a tree while more than double the limit and left a female passenger paralysed.
Aaron Wood was jailed for two years and eight months at Birmingham Crown Court this week, and was told he would now miss the birth of his child.
The 30-year-old, from Portsmouth, admitted two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and one count of drink-driving.
Two of his three passengers were thrown from his car when he lost control in Alcester Road, Moseley, shortly after midnight on Saturday, January 25.
One of them, 32-year-old Canadian Angela Gaspari, suffered severe spinal cord injuries and was declared tetraplegic – the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs.
Wood was told she would require extensive life-long care, needed help with ‘‘every basic task’’ and would be in a wheelchair long-term.
Miss Gaspari appeared in court via a live video-link and emotionally described her injuries as a ‘‘life sentence’’.
Her mother Helen
told Wood:
“You will never understand the devastation you have caused.”
His girlfriend, Bethany ShepleyBrook, 28, who is expecting their child, was also flung from the car during the crash.
She is still suffering the effects of her injuries which were a bleed on the brain, fractured skull, ribs and pelvis, bruised lungs and lacerated liver and spleen.
Neither of the women had been wearing seatbelts in the back of the Focus, while a third passenger, a man they had only met that night, escaped uninjured.
Wood issued a public apology to the victims. His defence barrister, Ashley Barnes, described him as a “decent, hard-working young man who has taken a hopelessly reckless decision on one night”.
Judge Melbourne Inman QC also disqualified him from driving for eight years and four months.
He described the effects of the crash as ‘‘catastrophic’’, telling Wood that Miss Gaspari had ‘‘lost all form of independence’’ and that his girlfriend would ‘‘continue to suffer’’ while he was in prison.
Reacting to the sentence, Claire Nicholls, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a horrific incident involving two victims who were seriously injured as a result of Aaron Wood’s actions. One victim suffered catastrophic and devastating injuries which will change her life forever.
“I want to thank both victims for their courage and support of the prosecution case throughout these proceedings. While the sentence can never replace the trauma they have suffered, I hope the fact that justice has been delivered brings some comfort to them.”