Woman badly hurt after drug-driver crashed car on mountain road
A DRUG-DRIVER crashed his car the morning after a cocaine binge and seriously injured a woman who was sitting in the passenger seat.
He later fled the scene on foot after a witness described him “panicking”.
Liam Skym, 28, was driving on Caerphilly mountain when he clipped the kerb with a Ford Focus and left the road before colliding with a tree. His passenger, Lisa Davies, helped him to escape from the car but he left her after she collapsed.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Ms Davies had spent the night with Skym, and he was drinking alcohol and taking cocaine.
She went to sleep but woke up to see the defendant still awake and holding a bottle of whisky.
At around 9.30am on October 25 last year, Ms Davies asked Skym to take her home, and he drove a black Ford Focus to the Caerphilly Mountain
Snack Bar, where he purchased food. He was seen on CCTV getting back into the car and driving off in the direction of Caerphilly town.
Prosecutor Ruth Smith said an argument broke out between the defendant and Ms Davies, during which he became angry and shouted at her. As a result of this, Skym’s driving was too fast and erratic.
On the B4623 Mountain Road, the car suddenly veered off the road, crossing the opposite carriageway, crashed into shrubbery and came to a stop after hitting a tree.
Ms Davies heard Skym shouting for help and assisted him by pulling him out of the vehicle, but once she had done so she collapsed.
A passer-by came to the aid of Ms Davies and noticed the defendant looking “panicked”. He left the scene shortly after and an ambulance later arrived to treat Ms Davies.
She was taken to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, where she was treated for a number of injuries, including swelling to the left side of the temple, bruises and lacerations to her lip, ear and face, tenderness to her chest wall, bruises to the upper left side of her abdomen, grazes to her right forearm, and grazes to her ankle.
Police began a search for Skym in a wooded area and he was located in Corbett Crescent.
He smelled strongly of intoxicants, his speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed, he had grazes to his arm and complained about chest pains. After he was taken to hospital, a number of blood samples were taken.
Readings were taken of 100 milligrammes of alcohol per 100ml of blood, the legal limit being 80 milligrammes, and 240 micrograms of benzoylecgonine per 100ml of blood, the legal limit being 50 micrograms. During his interview, Skym made a prepared statement in which he denied the collision was deliberate and occurred when he reached down to grab cigarettes and he clipped a kerb. The car was written off as a result. Skym, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drugs.
The court heard he has 11 previous convictions including possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, failing to provide a specimen, common assault, breach of a restraining order, and theft. In mitigation, Mark Cotter KC said his client, a father of three, had been on remand in prison for some time and had secured a job, as well as looking for employment upon his release.
Sentencing, the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, said she was “satisfied” the defendant’s driving would have been “highly impaired” by alcohol and drugs.
She said “The decision to drive was yours and no blame or culpability is attached to (Ms Davies).”
Skym was sentenced to one year and four months’ imprisonment. He was also disqualified from driving for three years and eight months.