Driver killed friend in crash just weeks after passing test
AYOUNG man caused his friend’s death when he lost control of his mum’s car less than three weeks after passing his driving test.
Jack Thomas was handed a suspended sentence after admitting causing Talaina Hussain’s death by careless driving.
Popular student Talaina, 18, was fatally injured when the Peugeot 206 Thomas was driving veered into a garden wall in Rochdale.
She suffered serious head injuries and sadly died two days later.
Thomas, 20, ‘oversteered’ and skidded while driving over the speed limit along Dewhirst Road in Skye in November 2016.
A sentencing hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court was attended by members of Talaina’s family, including her mother Cheryl.
In an emotional victim impact statement read to the court, Mrs Hussain said: “Our lives have been torn apart and nothing will ever be the same again.”
Mrs Hussain described her ‘princess’ as a popular, ‘amazing and loving’ young woman who had done well at school and hoped to study psychology at Edge Hill University.
She described feeling ‘incredible love’ from the moment Talaina was born adding: “We became one and together we could take on anything.”
Mrs Hussain said her ‘worst nightmare’ came true the night of the crash.
“I knew in my heart I was going to lose my baby girl,” she said.
“I knew in my heart things were never going to be the same again.”
She described the emptiness and ‘immense pain’ she felt after Talaina’s death, adding: “I don’t know if what has happened will ever sink in.”
The court heard how Thomas, then aged 18, had picked Talaina up from work in his mum’s car on the evening of November 14, 2016.
He was driving over the speed limit - between 38mph and 44mph - as he travelled along Dewhirst Road with Talaina in the passenger seat.
The car skidded onto the wrong side of the wet road. The court heard Thomas was unable to right it ‘through a lack of attention and perhaps inexperience’.
The vehicle slid across a junction and into the wall of a house on Dewhirst Road, with the passenger side taking the full brunt of the impact.
Residents who rushed to help Talaina were commended by Judge Angela Nield for their bravery and quick action.
Paramedics were on the scene within 10 minutes, but Talaina was badly injured and died in hospital two days later.
Accident investigators found that pressure in the offside tyre had been low - a factor which could have contributed to the crash.
Thomas, of Mountside Close, Shawclough, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
Mr Edwards, defending, said Thomas had passed his driving test just two and a half weeks before the incident.
He said Thomas, who has no previous convictions, was ‘extremely remorseful’.
“His suffering is in no way equal to that of the family of Ms Hussain, but he suffers nonetheless” he said.
“He counted himself among her friends and he will have to live with the action he took and the results for the rest of his life.”
Judge Nield ordered Thomas to serve 26 weeks in a young offenders institution, but suspended the sentence for 12 months.
He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to carry out 280 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 in compensation.
“This is an unspeakably tragic case involving the loss of a young life,” the judge said.
“It represents parent’s worst every nightmare.”