Therapist is struck off over road death
AN occupational therapist has been struck off after killing a pensioner through dangerous driving.
Susan Raybould, 62, can no longer work as an occupational therapist following the horror crash, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) has ruled.
Mrs Raybould was driving her Ford Ka when she hit Pamela Jayasundera, 72, as she crossed Hurdsfield Road, Macclesfield, using two walking sticks on March 11, 2013. Ms Jayasundera suffered broken ribs, a broken leg and a fractured skull and died the next day.
Mrs Raybould had denied causing death by dangerous driving. She was found guilty after a trial at Chester Crown Court in October 2014 and later sent to prison for three years.
The judge said she must have been reaching for her handbag at the time of the accident.
Mrs Raybould, of Bollin Drive, Congleton, who worked at Macclesfield Hospital, has now been released from prison and faced a HCPC conduct panel in London.
The panel heard glowing reports of her work as an occupational therapist but was not convinced she understood the seriousness of what happened and said her evidence lacked ‘genuine remorse, regret and insight’.
They struck her off the HCPC register which lists workers from 16 care and health professions.
Panel chairman Naseem Malik said: “The Panel considered this conviction is a serious one that involved the sudden and violent death of a person and that was wholly attributable to the registrant’s dangerous driving.
“That, on several occasions during this hearing, Mrs Raybould has continued to deny her culpability for her dangerous driving despite the verdict of the jury and the Judge’s comments, is a clear indicator that she has very little, if any, insight into the nature of the offence and impact on the victim’s family.”
Prosecutors at Mrs Raybould’s trial said her eyes were not on the road and forensic evidence showed she did not slow down. Mrs Raybould admitted she had not seen Ms Jayasundera.
The judge said the jury had rejected Mrs Raybould’s explanation that she had suffered from shoulder pain. He concluded the only tenable explanation was that she had been reaching for her handbag.
Following the hearing, Mrs Raybould declined to discuss the ruling.
Evidence lacked ‘genuine remorse, regret and insight’