Scientist ‘would happily swap places with driver who died’
ABIOMEDICAL scientist accused of causing the death of another motorist in a crash which also killed her unborn son told a doctor she “would happily” swap places with the dead man, a court has heard.
Laura Matthews-James, 35, who denies causing death by driving without due care and attention, lost control of her Fiat 500 after overtaking two cars and collided with another vehicle in the oncoming lane on the B4300 near Carmarthen on February 26 last year, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Jim Davies, for the prosecution, said Robert Hitchcock, 54, who was in the other vehicle, died “probably instantaneously” from the impact, from multiple traumatic injuries.
Reading from a list of agreed facts, Mr Davies, said MatthewsJames’ baby was delivered stillborn by emergency Caesarean section after she was admitted to hospital. He said she also suffered fractures to both legs, her right arm and bleeding to the brain.
Defence witness Dr Michael Alcock, a forensic psychiatrist, examined Matthews-James, of Gate Road, Penygroes, in May.
Reading from the doctor’s statement Ignatius Hughes QC, for the defence, said Matthews-James suffered from “intrusive memories” of being in pain but had no recollection of the accident or her first seven days in hospital.
He said: “Mrs Matthews-James told me her emotional state remains fragile and depressed (she said she) didn’t want to bring a child into this world as she thought she was a bad mother having ‘killed my baby’.”
Dr Alcock said Matthews-James told him she thought of Mr Hitchcock and would “happily swap places” with him.
The court heard Matthews-James met her husband-to-be, Andrew, in 2002. They married in 2012 and decided to start a family.
After struggling to conceive, the couple underwent IVF and Matthews-James was 28 weeks pregnant at the time of the collision.
Dr Alcock said: “There is no doubt in my mind that Mrs Matthews-James has undergone severe physical and psychological trauma. In my opinion Mrs Matthews-James is suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder with associated additional depressive symptomatology.”
He added that he believed there was medical evidence that supported Matthews-James’ claim of not being able to remember the incident as being genuine.
The court heard Matthews-James was driving to work at Glangwilli Hospital, Carmarthen, where she worked in the haematology department when she overtook two other vehicles in one manoeuvre.
The driver of the lead vehicle said he would have been driving at 40mph while the court heard Matthews-James’ car was going at between 50 and 55mph.
Matthews-James told the jury she had driven that route to work for five years and had overtaken on the same stretch of road previously as “you can see quite far ahead”.
She said she had thought of herself as a “standard, average driver that tries to be considerate to other road users”.
Answering questions about mud on the route, Matthews-James said there had been mud on the route previously but never as much as she had seen from that day in the scene photographs that were taken.
Asked why she thought she might have decided to overtake, she added: “From what I heard from the evidence, he (the lead driver) was going about 40mph which is 20mph below the speed limit so I may have just thought I don’t want to do that all the way to Carmarthen.”
The trial continues.