Man jailed for trying to run over father and son with car
SHOCKING footage shows the moment a driver seeking revenge tried to run over a son and father outside their home. He would have hit his intended victim if the father had not pulled his son out of the way of the car.
Luke O’Brien, 26, was jailed after driving at the two victims outside their house in Cardiff in the early hours of Christmas Eve last year.
He had been involved in an altercation with a friend of the son’s in the city centre hours earlier but despite being intoxicated he drove his car to his victim’s home and lay in wait.
After the father picked up his son and drove back to their Fairwater home at 4.15am, both were walking across the road when O’Brien drove at speed towards them, with a clear intention to run them over.
Upon seeing the car the father grabbed the son and pulled out of the car’s path.
The father fell onto the right side of his body. The son suffered red marks and shooting pains to his ankle while his father suffered a cut to his left elbow and left hand, a cut to a finger and pain to his hips and right ankle.
Footage caught on CCTV was played to a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday and showed the moment the car was milliseconds away from striking the son. The footage has now been released by the Crown Prosecution Service.
O’Brien collided with bollard before driving off back to his home. A police officer knocked at his door at 5.30am and said: “You know why we are here”, to which the defendant replied: “Yeah”. He was arrested but made no comment in his police interviews.
The defendant, of Heol Trelai, Caerau, later pleaded guilty to counts of assault occasioning actual
bodily harm and dangerous driving. The court heard he had previous convictions for battery and drug offences.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court, the father said he believed the incident was “premediated” by O’Brien and carried out with “clear intent”.
He said: “Without my swift actions
Sam would have been killed outright.
“It’s left me feeling vulnerable and suffering from panic attacks and I am now very nervous when crossing the roads.
“I’ve not been able to get a good night sleep, I wake up in a blind panic when a car is driving past and I haver to check who it is.”
He added: “Every time my son goes out I constantly think what if Luke comes back and finishes what he started.
“My wife and I discuss if Luke will come over and do something to our house or cars or will he wait until Luke returns home.
“My son is a big strong lad but he was totally exposed and if it were not for me being in the right place at the right time to pull (my son) to safety I dread to think what the consequences would have been.
“He was always the life and soul of the party but he shuts me down if I try to talk about it. “He was a very talented footballer but since the incident he has been unable to play the game he loves as he suffers from back pain and soft tissue damage. It’s left him depressed.”
O’Brien was sentenced to a total of 21 months imprisonment. He was also disqualified from driving for 22 months and was made subject to a restraining order for 10 years.