A driver has revealed a harrowing confession after killing a beloved father in a fatal car crash. Nicholas Sweeney,33, had taken his step-dad's car without permission despite not being insured in the car and only having a provisional driver's license.
The father-of-four ran then ran through a set of lights that were changing from green to amber earlier this year in January. Wayne Heath,56, was out on his motorbike driving home from work and also skipped past the light change on Ashton Road in Greater Manchester.
Sweeney then collided into Heath and sent him 'flying into the air' and when he landed he did so with fatal injuries. A passer-by who rushed to the victims aid stated Heath said he 'couldn't breathe', reports Manchester Evening News.
Paramedics rushed to the scene but the 56-year-old was pronounced dead not long after the incident occurred. Meanwhile, Sweeney returned home to tell his mother that he thought he had just killed someone and questioned 'what have I done.'
Heath's son said he had lost his 'best-friend' following the incident and that he has been prescribed antidepressants to cope with the grief, in a statement read out in Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
He said: "Nothing is the same. He was my best friend. We talked everyday. He was there for me whenever I needed him. I can never have a relationship like that with anyone else.
"My dad lived a basic happy life. He used a motorbike every day and had been driving since he was 18. He had never had a serious collision until this day. He worked everyday only to have everything taken away from him in a second by a person who should not have been on the road.
"Since his death I have been on antidepressants and suffer with severe anxiety. He (Sweeney) will be out living his life when he has destroyed mine. I don’t get excited about anything anymore. I’m just a mess."
Oliver Jarvis, defending, said his client was "sorry" for his actions that day and that he too had been suffering with anxiety and depression since the crash.
"This case obviously passes the custody threshold it is whether or not that sentence can be suspended," Mr Jarvis added as he pleaded with the court not to send his client to prison.
Sweeney, of Chestnut Crescent, Oldham, was jailed for nine months and banned from driving for three years, after admitting aggravated vehicle taking and causing death by careless driving.
Sentencing, Judge Bernadette Baxter said: " This is a truly tragic case in which a much loved father has lost his life. You have the life long burden of knowing your actions caused his death.
"I accept that you are genuinely remorseful for your actions. Mr Heath would have had time to stop for the lights. You were travelling at the correct speed and also would have had time to stop. You should not have been on that road at all.
"In mitigation you are a father of four young children and I take consideration of the victim’s excessive speed. But the message must go out to drivers that you cannot take cars without the owner’s permission.
"Knowing that you were not legally allowed to drive on the road you were not taking particular precaution. As you said to probation you were ‘chasing a red light.’ I would be failing my public duty if I didn’t send you to immediate custody."
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