Driver tells court how fatal crash happened ‘in split second’

A COUPLE left with serious injuries following a head-on collision have described how they had to be cut from the wreckage.

Driver Shane Strevins spent 16 days in hospital and his wife Joanne 33 days following the three-vehicle collision on Western Avenue between Llandaff and Fairwater.

In a statement read out at Cardiff Crown Court, Mr Strevins said the incident happened “in a split second” and he did not have time to react.

Dean Collins, 23, is on trial accused of causing the death of five-year-old Joseph Smith by dangerous driving. He also faces four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He denies the charges.

The court heard the incident occurred on the A48 Western Avenue near its junction with Ely Road just before noon on Sunday, September 13, 2015.

Mr Strevins said he was driving his white Seat Ibiza at about 35mph and described the traffic flow as very light.

He said: “All of a sudden, I was confronted with a grey-coloured car coming straight towards me in my lane – I don’t know where it came from, it was just suddenly there. Within a split second, it collided into my car. I don’t remember having time to react.”

Mr Strevins said he was knocked unconscious and the next thing he remembered was a paramedic asking him where he could feel pain.

He recalled how fire and rescue crews removed the roof, before paramedics put him and his wife in neck braces.

Mrs Strevins said she remembered seeing a “white flash”, which she believed to be her airbag, before she realised they were facing the left-hand kerb. She said: “I looked across at Shane and saw he was bleeding from his mouth.”

The couple said it was distressing they had to be separated as they were rushed to the University Hospital of Wales.

Mr Strevins suffered injuries including spinal fractures and a perforated bowel, while his wife suffered fractures to her spine, right arm, wrist and left foot.

A third car – a green Ford Focus – was also involved in the collision.

The defendant’s girlfriend Laura Bright and her mother Michelle Holmes, who were passengers in his car, suffered serious injuries in the crash.

Ms Bright’s five-year-old son Joseph Smith was pronounced dead at the scene just after 12.10pm.

Witness Abby O’Connor told the court she saw the defendant lift a phone to his ear at traffic lights just before the collision.

She added that he undertook her “at excessive speed” and then “appeared to lose control of the car”.

The court heard Collins, from Coleford Drive, St Mellons, admitted to a paramedic that he had not been wearing a seatbelt.

Forensic collision investigator PC Carlo Vaquerizo told the court Joseph should have been secured in a booster seat, but was not.

When he was interviewed in hospital, Collins told officers: “I remember waking up in the car, screaming noises all around me, in and out of consciousness.”

Forensic scientist Emily Hollands told the court she found benzoylecgonine – a by-product of cocaine – in the defendant’s blood. She said she detected more than 200 microgrammes per litre and the legal limit for driving is 50 microgrammes.

Collins denies causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.

The trial continues.