Parents’ plea for death case driver

10:46am Saturday 5th July 2008

Comments (9)   Have your say »

THE parents of a woman who died after being struck by a taxi urged magistrates to be lenient with the driver.

Lucie Brabyn’s parents – speaking after Gary Crowther was convicted of driving without due care and attention in an early morning accident in York– said he too had suffered greatly.

Crowther’s Renault Kangoo taxi struck the 22-year-old York woman as she was walking in the road last August.

Crowther, from Waite Close, Pocklington, had denied one count of driving without due care and attention.

But he was convicted at the end of a trial heard by Selby magistrates, sitting in Leeds.

The chairman of the bench, Dr Bob Grice, told Crowther: “In addition, we can find no evidence that the collision was not the cause of Lucie’s death.”

Duncan Heath, prosecuting, said: “I have been asked by the family to make it plain they do not seek in any way a harsh sentence. They feel Mr Crowther has suffered a great deal and suffered enough.”

The magistrates imposed a 12-month suspended sentence, three penalty points on Crowther’s licence, and ordered him to pay £100 towards prosecution costs.

“This is one of the most upsetting cases and awful decisions we have had to make,” Dr Grice said.

The court heard Crowther was driving a couple home after picking them up in the town centre when he struck Lucie at 1.45am, in the area where Fawcett Street merges with Paragon Street.

Mr Heath said that, upon hitting Lucie, Crowther, 51, braked before pulling over and calling an ambulance. She suffered head injuries, and died half-an-hour later in hospital.

“Mr Crowther’s driving at the time fell below the standard of a competent and careful driver,” he said.

“His front seat passenger, Kurt Slater, spotted Lucie. This was before Mr Crowther did, as he was looking to check for traffic coming from his left, despite it being 2am and the traffic was extremely light.

“Lucie was there to be seen; if he was looking forward he would have seen her in the road.”

Mr Heath said Lucie bounced off the bonnet into the road.

Mr Slater said that despite having drunk a lot, he was sober enough to see Lucie in the road.

He said: “The driver wasn’t driving too fast or distracted, but I saw her a split second before he did.”

The court heard differing views on where Lucie was in the road at the time, and whether Crowther’s first point of being able to see her was 22.6 metres away or 20 metres.

But Dr Grice said: “We believe at the centre of this case is whether or not a competent driver would have seen Lucie and taken avoiding action.

“He was looking to his left. At no point did he see Lucie until the collision.”

After the accident, Crowther said in interview: “I was checking on my left-hand side for traffic and merging into the middle lane when I heard a bump and crack.

“I got out of the car and saw her. I just couldn’t believe it. That’s when I called the ambulance.”

The court heard that Crowther, a father-of-three and the family breadwinner, had been working as a taxi driver in York for five years with Ebor Cars.

Julian Tanikal, defending, said: “He has been so traumatised by this he has been unable to go back onto night shifts.

“He will be seeking counselling. He will have to live with this for a very long time.”