Motorist killed partner’s son by driving dangerously
Amotorist has been convicted of killing his partner’s five-year-old son and seriously injuring five others by crashing head on into another car.
Dean Collins, 23, had passed his driving test just three months before the collision in Llandaff, Cardiff, on September 13, 2015.
Witnesses saw Collins, in a borrowed grey Ford Focus, undertaking other drivers and pulling quickly away from trafficlights.
He then drifted across the road into the opposite carriageway and collided head on with another vehicle, killing his partner Laura Bright’s son, Joseph Smith.
Others suffered a range of injuries including fractures to the spine, arms, legs and ribs, memory loss and blindness in one eye.
Collins, of Coleford Drive, St Mellons, Cardiff, was seen holding a mobile phone to his ear prior to the collision. He had also taken cocaine.
A jury at Cardiff Crown Court unanimously convicted Collins of the five charges against him following a five-day trial.
He was found guilty of causing Joseph’s death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Judge Eleri Rees, the Recorder of Cardiff, was to sentence Collins at 2pm today.
“This was a difficult case for any jury to deal with,” the judge said.
The trial heard the car driven by Collins struck a white Seat Ibiza being driven by Shane Strevins.
Mr Strevins’ car was then hit from behind by a green Ford Focus driven by Victoria Matthews.
Mr Strevins was knocked unconscious by the force of the impact and spent 16 days in hospital recovering from his injuries.
His wife, Joanne, who was a front-seat passenger, suffered a fractured spine and was in hospital for 33 days.
Mrs Matthews and her passenger walked away from the crash unhurt.
Miss Bright, a front-seat passenger in Collins’ car, suffered memory loss, a bleed to the brain and was unconscious for five days.
Her mother, Michelle Holmes, who was sitting behind Collins, fractured both her arms and lost the sight in her left eye.
Joseph was sitting next to his grandmother in the rear of the car, but was not in a child booster seat, as required by law.
He was declared dead at the scene a short time after the collision. A post-mortem examination found he died as a result of a blunt-force injury to the neck.
Janet McDonald, prosecuting, previously told the jury that Collins did not “react, re-adjust or stop” after veering into the opposite carriageway.
“He drove impatiently and people describe him as a speedy driver and an idiot,” she said.
“He gave the impression of someone in a rush.”
Collins has no memory of the crash, but disputed that his driving fell below that of a competent driver.