‘Driver who killed teen thought he’d hit furniture’
ADRIVER who killed a teenager in an alleged hit and run told police he thought he had run over a wardrobe which had been flytipped, a court has heard.
Derek Richards is accused of causing death by careless driving after Rhys Dobson, 19, was killed in a collision in Blaenavon on April 14, 2019. The 38-year-old denies the charge and is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court.
Mr Dobson was walking home from a night out along Varteg Road at around 3.20am when the collision occurred with Richards’ Citroen C3.
A passerby called the emergency services but the teenager was declared dead at the scene having suffered catastrophic head injuries.
The defendant’s car did not stop and was later discovered by police parked outside a shop in Blaenavon.
Richards was later arrested and told police he thought he had hit “a piece of furniture” and there was “nothing to suggest it was a person”.
On Monday the trial heard Mr Dobson, from Varteg, had attended a football event in Oxford with workmates and had arrived back in Blaenavon at around 8pm.
Witness Sabrina Stokes said she, Mr Dobson and the group went to their office at 1am before leaving at 2am to head home.
During the course of the day, she said Mr Dobson had drunk “three quarters” of a Southern Comfort bottle as well as Kopparberg cider.
She said they tried to get a taxi home after Mr Dobson said he felt “unsafe to walk home” but were unable to get through so they walked. Her home was before his so he carried on walking.
Prosecutor Alexander Greenwood said that at about 3.15am, Connor Whitcombe was a passenger in a car driving along Varteg Road when he saw a person in the opposite carriageway. The vehicle he was travelling in returned to the scene.
Mr Greenwood said: “By the time it took to do so, Derek Richards was also driving along that road but he did not observe the deceased and he hit and killed Rhys Dobson.
“The prosecution’s case is he didn’t break or stop after the collision. After hitting Mr Dobson, he killed him and left the scene.”
Mr Whitcombe described the body as having a “severe head injury”. He called the police and was asked to check for a pulse but it was clear to
the witness that Mr Dobson had died.
A postmortem gave the cause of death as destruction of the skull. It was also established that the injuries were in keeping with someone crouching who had been impacted on the nearside of a vehicle.
Emergency services discovered debris from a vehicle including a trim and pieces of a bumper, which established that the vehicle involved in the collision was a Citroen C3.
It was discovered later that day parked in Ivor Street. Half an hour later, the defendant approached the vehicle and told police officers: “That black car is mine, yeah that’s mine. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
Richards told police he “thought he had hit a wardrobe, washing machine or drier” and claimed he didn’t stop because he was aware of scams where people jumped out on vehicles which stopped on dark roads. He described the object in the road as “waist height” and “did not appear human”.
The defendant said he had spent the previous evening with a friend “drinking tea and chatting” and was “devastated” after the collision because he had only had the car for two or three weeks.
Mr Greenwood said: “The defendant should have made allowances for his headlights. He was driving too fast for the conditions and failed to pay proper attention to the road, failed to brake and failed to avoid the collision. He caused the death of Rhys Dobson.”
An examination of the car revealed the vehicle was travelling at 61mph at the point of collision; that stretch of road had a 60mph speed limit.
There were no vehicle or skid marks in the road or anything to suggest another vehicle was involved.
Richards, of Morgan Street, Blaenavon, denies causing death by careless driving. The trial continues.