Judge blames ‘over-indulgent’ parents for son’s fatal car crash
A JUDGE has condemned the parents of a teenager who killed two friends in a crash for “over-indulging” him as he jailed him for six years.
Owain Hammett-george was 17 and had passed his driving test only three months earlier when he drove at more than twice the speed limit and lost control of the Alfa Romeo bought for him by his businessman father, Dewi George, 47.
His passengers Ben Rogers and Kaitlyn Davies, both 19, died in the crash, and a third passenger, Casey Thomas, then 17, suffered a brain injury and a broken neck.
Hammett-george admitted causing death by dangerous driving and death by careless driving, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Swansea Crown Court heard that as well as buying the £21,000 Alfa Romeo Mito with a personalised number plate spelling OW11AAN for his son, Mr George had lied to take licence points for his son after he was caught speeding days after passing his test.
The court was also told that in the
weeks before the crash, Hammettgeorge had been warned by his mother and his sister about his driving.
Judge Geraint Walters told Hammettgeorge, whom he also banned from driving for eight years, that being spoilt by his parents had been partly to blame for his offending.
He added: “You are over-indulged: a car before you were fit to have one, out late in the evening with other youngsters in the car, and it’s not irrelevant to point to evidence that your parents were aware of the danger. There were messages between family members to say so.
“It’s not irrelevant either that within a very short period of passing your test you were to be prosecuted for speeding. It was a sign of what might be to come.
“The greatest act of over-indulgence is the taking of the responsibility of your conduct on to your father – a choice he made but it underlines the over-indulgence that lies at the heart of this offence.”
On the night of the crash, Hammettgeorge had been doing an average 70-78mph in a 30mph zone, and at the point he lost control had been travelling at even greater speed.