A father-of-two was killed in front of his sons on Christmas Day when a carer fell asleep at the wheel and ploughed into him.
Darran Fellowes, 48, was stopped on the hard shoulder trying to help one of his children whose car had broken down when he was hit.
Sarah Jayne Roper, 27, admitted causing death by dangerous driving last month but avoided jail at her sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
The court heard she was returning from a shift at the care home where she was a manager and had had a glass of wine as part of Christmas lunch before the crash near Swansea at around 5pm on December 25, 2019.
Mr Fellowes went out to find his son, Jack, then 18, who had been driving a VW Beetle the pair had been restoring together.
The car had lost power on the A465 near Aberdulais and Jack had pulled it into the hard shoulder. His father and brother, Thomas, then 23, and Thomas’ girlfriend Jessica arrived on the scene.
They discovered the car was out of fuel, despite the gauge showing it had half a tank.
As the VW didn’t have hazard lights, Mr Fellowes parked his car behind it and switched on his own warning lights while he also waved a light beacon.
Other drivers testified that they had seen the cars and had time to move over to the second lane.
Roper told the court she had fallen asleep and didn’t know for how long.
She drove into the Volkswagen, causing the front door to smash forwards, breaking the window and sending Mr Fellowes ’15 to 20ft into the air’.
He suffered a fractured skull, fractured spine, and fractured ribs and died at the scene despite the efforts of emergency workers.
Roper initially continued driving but pulled over and called her boyfriend before going back to the scene where footage from body-worn cameras of emergency workers showed her ‘shocked and upset’.
Investigators found there was no evidence alcohol or drugs had played a part in the collision and her mobile phone hadn’t been used beforehand.
Mr Fellowes’ widow Donna told the court: ‘I know I will never be able to fix this for my sons. I will have to continue to watch the pain and hurt and losing their dad and it breaks my heart on a daily basis.
‘I live with anger that my happy, stable family unit has been ripped apart. When I see the A465 sign I feel physically sick.’
She added: ‘My identity, my other half, my belonging, my family unit are all gone.’
Roper’s lawyer, Quentin Hunt, said the crash was a ‘tragic momentary lapse in safety from someone who is usually a conscientious driver’ and she had offered ‘an unreserved apology.’
Residents at the care home where she worked had called her the ‘best thing about being in this home’ in a recent audit.
Mr Hunt said: ‘It has had a devastating impact on her and probably will for the rest of her life – although that is in no way meant to go behind the obvious void and pain and suffering of Mr Fellowes’ family.’
Judge Catherine Richards sentenced Roper to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years and 300 hours of unpaid work.
She was also disqualified from driving for three years and made subject to an electronic tag curfew, from 8pm to 6am, for nine months.
The judge spared Roper jail because of her good character and because she was unlikely to offend in future and was not deemed to be a danger to the public.
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Source: Metro
