Malpas woman spared jail for death of nurse

Dec 22 2011 by Carmella de Lucia, Chester Chronicle

A DRIVER who admitted causing the death of a beloved wife and mother has been fined and banned from driving.

Jannine Davies, 43, from Tushingham, was fined £1,200 and banned from driving for a year after a momentary lapse of concentration on her part caused the death of nurse Deborah Hewitt in a horrific road smash in Malpas earlier this year.

Mrs Hewitts family were at Chester magistrates court to hear Davies, chairman of Governors at Tushingham Primary School, plead guilty to driving without due care and attention.

She tearfully expressed remorse for the accident and said she had been left with overwhelming grief and sadness.

Caroline Viviani, prosecuting, told district judge Nicholas Sanders how Mrs Hewitt, 47, was travelling to work to cover a night shift at Prospect House Nursing Home on High Street, Malpas, when her Ford Focus collided with Daviess Land Rover Discovery near the Ebnal Lane junction just after 8pm on February 16.

Firefighters battled for 45 minutes to free the mother-of-two from Wrexham, before she was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital but she later died of multiple head and chest injuries while Davies escaped unharmed.

Ms Viviani said the head-on collision had happened in seconds after Davies appeared to misjudge a corner in some way and there were no other factors to indicate it was caused by anything other than driver error.

Atiyah Malik, defending, said though Davies could not explain how it happened, she accepted the consequences.

"This is a first-time offender of exemplary character and with an exemplary driving licence who is an otherwise upstanding member of the community", she added.

"She has shown an enormous amount of remorse for what has happened."

She said mother-of-two Davies, who has worked in her role as school community governor since 2005, has been a critical friend to Tushingham school and continues to be involved in an active role, carrying out at least 10 hours of community work a month.

Ordering Davies to pay a fine of £1,200 plus £100 costs, Judge Sanders, said: "Nothing I do today will serve as any form of compensation for the loss the family have suffered.

"This was a case where nobody really quite knows why it occurred, it can only have been a momentary lapse of concentration which has had catastrophic results.

"You will all have to live with it for the rest of your lives and this is simply no value on the loss of someones life."

In a statement, Mrs Hewitts husband Gary, said: "The event which took Debbie from those who loved her also touched many others in many ways.

"Debbie cared about people. Debbie was always kind, generous and forgiving.

"Debbie's family are grateful to those who have shown us kindness, and especially grateful to those who were kind to Debbie that night."