Drunk mum ‘could have killed family’
ADRUNK mum behind the wheel of a Range Rover turned a family’s whole world “upside down” after crashing into them head on at speed last summer.
They are still living with the trauma months on, a court heard.
Rhianon Brown, previously of Gwynedd, but now living in Wiltshire, was intoxicated and drove dangerously for over an hour before smashing into the family while travelling at twice the legal speed limit. She appeared before a judge sitting at Mold Crown Court to be sentenced.
The 35-year-old was charged with two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. She also failed to stop after an earlier traffic accident.
Prosecuting, Mr Matthew Dunford said that the mother of two caused two separate crashes in the Gwynedd area while behind the wheel of her grey Range Rover Evoque. The court was shown a map charting the journey she took at night along the A496 which spanned around eight miles between Barmouth and Harlech.
The more serious came after 9.30pm when, driving on the wrong side of the road at speed, she went directly into a Toyota C-HR that was being driven by Eleanor Jones. She had her husband and son in the car, along with one of their friends, at the time.
The emergency services arrived and Brown, upon speaking to a police officer, was said to have “slurred speech”. The officer could also “smell alcohol on her breath”, the court was told.
Mr Jones told the court that it was “an understatement” to say that the crash turned the family’s lives “upside down”. He described the initial pain as being the most he had ever physically endured, adding that any movement – even as simple as breathing – proved too painful because of his chest injuries. Months on, he still worries about being able to fully return to his career of 20 years with North Wales Police as a serving officer.
He said: “In its current condition, I doubt that my back could support my full everyday uniform and associated
PPE, let alone dealing with conflict or long shifts. I feel that the last six months of my life have been taken away from me and my family unnecessarily.”
His wife then told the court that she needed her toes, which had been dislocated, repositioned. Since the surgery she hasn’t been able to walk unaided for months. She became visibly emotional when explaining to the judge that the crash is “far from being a distant memory” for her. The tourist attraction manager said that she still experiences flashbacks to the night and of the headlights coming towards her family.
The couple’s son, Ryan, also experiences flashbacks, the court heard through his written statement, when he passes the scene. He said that this is something he cannot avoid as it’s along the same way he travels to college.
Previously, at around 9.30pm, Ms Brown hit a Ford Fiesta that she encountered at a narrow section of the carriageway. Soon afterwards, she sped away but her numberplate was recorded and later reported.
The prosecutor said that Brown admitted to the police that she had been involved in the first crash and hadn’t stopped. She told officers that she had “panicked”.
She then tried to lie her way out of being at fault for the crash, the court heard. She claimed her car would sometimes go into a “limp mode” where it would drive “very slowly” then, on occasions, “shoot forward”.
Police made checks of the heavily damaged Range Rover’s telematics system which proved that, seconds before she crashed into the family, Brown had her foot to the floor and was travelling at about 60mph. She
only started braking when they were two seconds away from colliding.
Defending Brown, her solicitor said that at the time of the accident she was suffering from a “depressive illness” and had hit “rock bottom”. Her apology appears to come from a “genuine” place, the court was told.
Judge Niclas Parry felt that prison was the only option for punishing Brown’s “selfish” actions. He told her: “You could have killed four people.” Brown was jailed for two years. She was also banned from driving for the next four years and cannot get back behind a wheel again until passing an extended retest.