Man cleared of causing death by dangerous driving
AJURY has cleared a factory worker of causing his colleague’s death by dangerous driving. Gareth Robbins stood trial after his friend Paul Heenan was thrown from a bike after allegedly grabbing hold of the defendant’s car, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Mr Heenan, a 40-year-old dad of two, had cycled to work at the Yuasa battery factory in Ebbw Vale in April 2020 because his gym had closed during the first lockdown and he wanted to keep fit. On his way home on April 10, he was killed after riding alongside fellow worker Robbins, 33, who was driving in arm’s length of Mr Heenan.
Robbins, of Cos Gwaith Dur, denied two counts of causing death by dangerous driving – one allegation of towing Mr Heenan with his car and one of driving too close to the cyclist. Yesterday the jury unanimously found him not guilty of both charges. He pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
The jury had heard how Mr Heenan, a well-respected worker with more than 20 years’ experience at the factory on the Rassau Industrial Estate, was given a “ribbing” that day as colleagues joked he was too old to ride a bike. Liam Newton, who witnessed the fatal incident, said the banter had been taken in jest.
After workers’ shifts had ended that sunny Friday, Mr Heenan led the convoy of vehicles out of the factory just after 6pm, riding ahead on his bike beyond the factory gatehouse and onto the road towards Merthyr Tydfil, the court heard. Mr Newton said he saw Mr Heenan appearing to talk to Robbins through the passenger side window of his car as they negotiated the roundabout and subsequently saw the cyclist thrown into the air before crashing down on the road.
Mr Newton added that Mr Heenan had been swerving in front of the line of cars while Robbins, travelling directly behind, swerved “as if he was going to overtake him” but not doing so. “They were all talking back at him from their cars,” Mr Newton told the court.
Gareth Robbins, 33, accepted he hadn’t given Mr Heenan enough room as he passed. The married dad-of-one told the jury: “I like to think he [Paul] was my best friend and I just wanted to say I would see him in the morning.”
The court heard Robbins finished his shift as a burner at 6pm and was eager to get home to his wife Rachel, who was heavily pregnant with the couple’s first daughter Lily. Mrs Robbins said her husband was a “very kind, caring and sensitive person” who worked hard to support his family.
Described by colleagues as someone who was “hardworking and honest” and who “gave 100%” to his job, Robbins broke down as the court heard how he and Mr Heenan had a “really good working relationship”.
That Friday was the first time Mr Heenan had arrived at work by bike.
CCTV footage showed Mr Heenan leaving the compound on his bike, initially weaving in an S-shape in front of the convoy of vehicles belonging to his workmates with some of them beeping their horns as part of the “joshing” because he was slowing the traffic down. It was all “fun and goodnatured”, the prosecution conceded.
Robbins said he was driving behind Mr Heenan as they left the car park. “I just thought he was joking about,” said Robbins. “As you come to the widening of the road Paul was still cycling in front of me so I tried to go around him to make my way out. As I tried to go around Paul he was weaving in front of me so I had to slam my brakes on to stop. Then we came up to the speed hump on the corner and I had to slow down...but Paul could go over it a lot quicker than I could.”
Mr Heenan and Robbins approached a roundabout with the cyclist still in front – no longer “larking about”, according to Robbins. He went to overtake again and as he came level with Mr Heenan, Robbins told the court he turned his head to the left and shouted through the open passenger window of his two-door Peugeot: “I’ll see you in the morning skip.” Then he looked back to the road straight ahead and accelerated away, he said.
The prosecution allege that at that moment Mr Heenan had grabbed hold of the car pillar on the passenger side and was being “towed” along at speeds of around 24mph, which Robbins denies.
Eugene Egan, for the prosecution, told Robbins that DNA tests had shown that Mr Heenan undoubtedly did make contact with the car pillar with his right hand and witnesses had previously told the court they’d seen him holding onto the car while seemingly talking to Robbins.
Robbins admitted that he should have gone around Mr Heenan “way wider”. He said he believed he had given the cyclist enough room at the time. “I heard a knock on the car so I looked in my rear view mirror and saw Paul come off his bike,” he added.
A vertical mark on the car, left by the right handlebar of Mr Heenan’s bike, proved that the bike and the vehicle were travelling at the same speed of around 23-29mph at the time of the collision, experts said.
Robbins broke down as he said: “I didn’t think it was as serious as it turned out to be.”
Mr Heenan died the next day of a catastrophic brain injury with the cause of death given as a blunt head injury. He had not been wearing a helmet.
Robbins was bailed until May when he is due to be sentenced for causing death by careless driving.