‘Distracting’ kiss caused drink-drive rugby player to kill lover
A RUGBY player who killed his girlfriend in a crash after being ‘distracted’ by a kiss was jailed for two years yesterday.
Benjamin Hughes was almost twice the drink- drive limit when his van left the road and crashed into a tree.
Masters degree student Dominique Wright, 23, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, suffered injuries including a broken neck and died instantly. Hughes, 24, was not badly hurt and was able to climb from the van, telling passers-by he had ‘killed the love of his life’.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that Miss Wright’s parents did not want to see him jailed as they saw him as a ‘son’, but Judge John Burgess said sentencing could not be ‘ entirely determined by pleas for mercy’.
Jailing Hughes, who admitted causing death by careless driving, he said: ‘Something happened in the vehicle to distract you. You spoke of a kiss to the police.
‘As a result of such distraction you failed to negotiate a bend, your vehicle left the road, struck a tree, and Dominique suffered fatal injuries.
‘I know you never intended her any harm but the courts need to remind the public of the terrible consequences of drink-driving.
‘Just as our sentences cannot be entirely determined by the views of people seeking maximum sentences, neither can they be entirely determined by pleas for mercy.’
Hughes, a plumber, crashed on the A612 near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, at around 12.30am on October 30 last year. He had played for Southwell Rugby Club hours earlier, drinking two pints of beer after the game before picking up Miss Wright, of Nettleham, Lincolnshire, from a train station.
They went on to visit two pubs with another couple. David Allan, prosecuting, said the group had a number of rounds in the first pub, before arriving in the second at around 9.30pm, where they continued drinking.
He said CCTV footage showed the friends in ‘ boisterous’ behaviour, with Hughes appearing unsteady on his feet at one stage. Before leaving, he was seen to ‘drain’ a pint of lager in his hand, and finish a spirit glass Miss Wright was holding.
Mr Allan told the court: ‘Overall, six rounds were purchased in 90 minutes. How many of those the defendant had personally, it is not possible to say.’
Hughes later told police that he and Miss Wright, who had been together for two months, had intended to get the last bus to his home in Lowdham but they missed it. After attempting to call his mother for a lift, he decided to drive.
The crash happened a little
‘Unsteady on his feet’
while later, with Hughes telling a passing motorist: ‘I think I’ve killed my girlfriend.’ Mr Allan added: ‘Passers-by describe him as upset, saying he believed he had “killed the love of his life”.’
He was found to have 141 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.
Miss Wright’s father David, 55, addressed the court, saying the family did not want Hughes jailed as he could ‘help rebuild our lives’. His daughter, an English language graduate, was doing a masters degree in corporate communications at the University of Leeds when she was killed.
Hughes was also banned from driving for four years.