COURT TOLD OF M4 CRASH HORROR
A DRIVER was speaking on his handsfree mobile phone seconds before he ploughed into the back of a stationary car on a motorway, killing a heavily pregnant mother and her unborn child, a court has heard.
Rebecca Evans, 27, was eight months pregnant when she died at the scene of the crash on the M4 near Port Talbot while her two-year-old son Cian suffered serious injuries including bleeding on the brain and a fractured skull.
Yesterday, Craig Scott, 51, went on trial at Swansea Crown Court accused of causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.
Catherine Richards, for the prosecution, told jurors Scott, of Heath, Cardiff, previously pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving but denied the more serious charge.
She said crash investigators found Scott was driving at around 70mph and did not brake before the collision which occurred after he failed to notice other road users had slowed and were stopped in the road ahead of him.
The court heard Ms Evans was the front passenger in a Peugeot 407 driven by her partner Alex Evans and that they were on the way to drop Cian – who was in the rear of the vehicle – with her mother before continuing on to work at the Swansea office of the homeless charity Shelter Cymru.
Ms Richards said: “Alex Evans was travelling in the outside lane and cars in front of him were activating their brake lights.
“He began to slow down, reacting properly to the traffic in front of him.
“His vehicle came to a stop and he put his hazard lights on... tragically for Alex Evans and his family this defendant was not paying attention to the conditions.
“Alex Evans could see the defendant’s BMW approaching.
“It seemed to Mr Evans that the defendant was not slowing and he didn’t.”
Ms Richards said jurors would hear from other drivers who had been on the road that day who would say Scott’s car was going too fast.
After the collision Cian was airlifted to University Hospital Wales where he was found to have bleeding between his brain and skull, a depressed skull fracture and fractures to both legs.
Ms Evans was pronounced dead at 9am – around 45 minutes after the crash which happened at 8.13am.
In a statement read to the court, Mr Evans described waking up on November 29, 2016, with Ms Evans, also known as Becca, and getting ready to leave for work with Cian and their dog Poppy.
He said Ms Evans, pregnant with their unborn daughter Cari, was due to go on maternity leave the following week and was looking forward to it.
She was on her phone on Facebook as he drove, he said, adding that the day was “crisp and fresh” with traffic flowing smoothly.
He said: “I was in lane two when I saw the brake lights ahead on other vehicles.
“I started to slow down and come to a slow, then a stop.
“I put my hazard lights on to warn other traffic that we were on stop. Becca was looking into her phone totally oblivious to what was going on.”
Mr Evans said he saw Scott’s car in his rear view mirror and said “he’s coming a bit fast” and “I don’t think he’s slowing down”.
He said there was an “almighty bang” and then “chaos” and he saw people pulling at Becca’s door and removing her from the car.
“I saw blood on her dress and I knew then that our daughter had gone,” he said.
“I knew that straight away but not in a million years did I think I would lose Becca.”
Mr Evans said a police officer told him a short time later that she and their daughter had died and he “screamed and cried for them both”.
Lorry driver Shaun Reed told jurors he thought “he’s going some” as Scott’s BMW went past him moments before the accident and had a sixth sense that there would be a collision.
John Mayer, who was driving a van, became emotional as he told the court about holding Ms Evans’ hand and trying to get her to respond. He said the BMW also passed him and was just “carrying on” and not slowing down despite cars ahead braking.
In interview, Scott told police he had been on his way to work – his regular commute – and was distracted by something on a bridge above the motorway and that he finished a hands-free call with his employers five minutes earlier.
Ms Richards said officers since discovered the call actually ended 14 to 34 seconds before the crash.
She said: “He was quite simply avoidably and dangerously distracted.”
Scott also said he braked when he saw the Evans’ Peugeot ahead of him but knew it was too late to stop.
Ms Richards added: “Craig Scott, the defendant, accepts that as a result of his driving Rebecca Evans lost her life and her son Cian was seriously injured.
“He accepts that the collision was his fault, he accepts that he was driving carelessly, namely that he drove below the standard of what would be expected of a careful and competent driver.
“But Craig Scott denies that his driving amounted to dangerous driving.”
She said jurors would need to calmly consider the issues in the “tragic” case.
The trial continues.