A grandmother was killed after she was hit with a car while crossing the road because the driver hadn't seen her due to his deteriorating eyesight. She suffered a fractured skull after being carried on the bonnet before being thrown into the road.
The family of Mary Phillips, who was 72-years-old at the time of her death, expressed their heartbreak at the death of their mother and grandfather following the collision in Cwmbran on November 27, 2020. She was killed after Jordan Horder's silver Volkswagen Golf struck her as she made her way home from shopping in Asda.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday heard 29-year-old Horder had a number of visual impairments and was effectively blind in one eye when he fatally struck Mrs Phillips in Llewellyn Road. He didn't see the victim until she hit his windscreen and after the collision he stopped and called an ambulance.
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Prosecutor Eugene Egan said the lights were green to traffic as Mrs Phillips crossed the road but Horder should have been able to see her and acted accordingly. The barrister said: "Legitimate criticisms could be made of the defendant, he failed to see the deceased, he failed to keep a proper look out, failed to steer his car to avoid her, and failed to brake. The underlying cause of all these failures is he failed to keep his eyesight under adequate review ongoing at the time. He failed a number plate test at sufficient levels to keep eyesight acuity. It was a wholly avoidable accident and a fatal road traffic collision occurred because he drove carelessly."
An off duty paramedic helped Mrs Phillips as she lay dying in the road, as Horder told her "I didn't see her before, I know she has hit my car and has hit my windscreen." When the police arrived he was tested for drugs and alcohol but was negative. He was not speeding at the time of the crash and his vehicle had no defects.
Mrs Phillips was pronounced dead at 1.40am on November 28, 2020. She suffered a fractured skull and subarachnoid haemorrhage, as well as injuries to her left upper chest.
The defendant was said to have significant eyesight issues since he was a teenager and had surgery on his right eye in 2007. Optometrist Gareth Ward said Horder was "basically blind in one eye" and needed contact lenses in his left eye. In 2020, he failed an eye test and was advised not to drive but in August that year he was regarded as fit to drive. By December 2020, his eyesight had deteriorated and he was found to be not fit to drive. His licence has not been revoked by the DVLA.
Horder, of The Crescent, Cwmbran, was arrested and initially denied being responsible for the crash, saying the glare from the green light had effected his vision. But later he pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. The court heard he was of previous good character.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court, Mrs Phillips' son David Johnson said: "Seeing my mother that night lying cold and unresponsive attached to life support and listening to medical staff explaining there would be no recovery is one of the hardest things I have had to experience. As a family our lives were turned upside down, I still can't believe she is gone."
Mr Johnson said his mother gave birth to him when she was just 16 and left school with no qualifications but attended community college as an adult and qualified as a nurse and midwife. He said her interests included her garden, reading, the theatre and travelling, as well as a "voracious appetite" for politics and news. He added: "I didn't tell her often enough how much she meant to me and wish I said it more."
The victim's daughter Tracey Johnson described her mother as a "fit and healthy" 72-year-old woman who "loved life and lived it to the full". She said: "What haunts me is that our mum to all intents and purposes died at the side of the road that cold and wet November evening, she was not surrounded by the people who loved her... That is not how she should have died."
Mrs Johnson added: "We know she wouldn't have lived forever but she was taken too soon and that makes us very angry and very sad... She went out to buy chocolates and never came home. Mum deserved a better end to her life."
In mitigation, defence barrister Heath Edwards said his client was "utterly devastated" by the consequences of his driving and "feels awful" for causing heartache to Mrs Phillips' family. He said accepted someone with "adequate eyesight" may have seen Mrs Phillips crossing the road and the collision could have been avoided. He added: "If he could turn back the hands of time, that is something he would gladly do."
Addressing Mrs Phillips family, Judge Michael Fitton KC said: "I want to pay testimony to the courage you had in coming to this court and reading those carefully composed but powerfully eloquent statements. Nobody listening to that, including the defendant and his family, could fail to be moved in the depth of your love for Mary. She was the beating heart of your family." This was an event that should never have happened and need not have happened. It was wholly unavoidable."
Judge Fitton told Horder that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified. The defendant was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, of which he will serve half before being released on licence.
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