A man killed his work colleague in a crash after he drank alcohol as he was driving a car that had been travelling at 100mph, a court heard.
Meirion Emerson Roberts, 26, was driving a white Vauxhall Corsa in Penygroes Road in the village of Blaenau, three miles west of Ammanford, on the evening of Friday, December 4, 2020.
At around 8.45pm the car crashed off the road and into a telegraph pole and a wall before coming to a stop on its roof.
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The passenger in the car, 20-year-old Lewis Morgan from Carmarthen, died as a result of injuries sustained in the collision. Roberts, of Heol Las, Ammanford, was arrested following the crash and later charged with causing death by dangerous driving. During his trial, which began at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, the jury heard that Roberts had been drinking on the evening of the crash during and after a work gathering that he and Mr Morgan had attended.
Video footage posted on Snapchat on the evening of the fatal crash was shown to the court and showed Roberts drinking from what appeared to be a bottle of alcohol while driving. At one point that footage also centres in on the car’s speedometer and, according to the prosecution, shows the vehicle being driven at 100mph.
Opening the case prosecution barrister Carina Hughes explained how, on the evening in question, Roberts and Mr Morgan had been drinking and eating food at the Cottage Inn a short distance from the town of Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire.
Miss Hughes told the jury that “by 6pm the group had consumed five or six pints with their meal” and that the defendant had been drinking cider. A short time later Mr Morgan was picked up by his brother, Lloyd Morgan, and they returned to the property where they both lived.
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The court was told how Roberts had then come round to the house and he and Mr Morgan left together at around 8.10pm having said they were “going for a spin”. A short time later the car was captured in Lammas Street in Carmarthen town centre where it pulled up outside Bargain Booze. CCTV footage showed the defendant and Mr Morgan entering the store and purchasing alcohol.
The car was later seen “speeding and swerving” according to Miss Hughes and by 8.43pm CCTV captured the vehicle in a 30mph zone in the Blaenau area. While the prosecution could not prove how fast the car was travelling they claim that speed investigators, based on the car appearing on two different CCTV cameras, estimate it to be between 36mph and 48mph.
“A member of the public saw the defendant leave the road and crash into a telegraph pole and a wall,” said Miss Hughes. “The car ended up on its roof. Lewis Morgan sustained severe head trauma and could not be resuscitated. He died at the scene. The defendant not only drove while under the influence of alcohol but drove while consuming alcohol. He drove at speed and at one point in excess of the speed limit for over a mile. At one point he drove at 100mph.
“He could not control his vehicle and that is why he was seen swerving on more than one occasion. The defendant fell far below what would be expected of a careful and competent driver.”
Having shown the jury the Snapchat video that was sent by Mr Morgan on the night of the crash Miss Hughes said that it showed the defendant “listening to music and participating in videos while driving at speed” which she said was proof that his driving “was clearly dangerous”.
Roberts was himself injured in the crash and taken to hospital where he was breathalysed. He gave a reading of 54mg per 100ml of blood – the legal limit being 80. However Miss Hughes told the court that the test was taken some hours after the impact and that an expert said given the time frame of the events that it would “not have been lower than 100” and would “most likely have been higher than that” at the time of the crash.
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Giving evidence Lloyd Morgan said he had collected his brother and some friends, but not the defendant, from The Cottage Inn on the evening of the crash. Roberts then arrived at the property and the three of them “sat down watching TV” and the witness said both his brother and Roberts drank one 440ml can of Stella Artois.
He said the pair worked together at Fine-Edge-Construction Ltd but he did not consider them to be close friends as he had never seen Roberts before.
When questioned by barrister David Leathley, defending, Mr Lloyd confirmed that he had tried to stop his brother from going back out that evening because he had work commitments the following morning but he was unable to persuade him to remain home. He said Roberts “seemed fine and was not slurring his words”. He also confirmed what he had said in a police statement to police weeks after the crash that Roberts “was tidy”, “did not fall over and did not spill his drink”, and that he could not smell alcohol on his breath. He did however add that he had lost his sense of smell, which remains the case to this day.
Another witness, Kevin Griffiths, who used to work for the fire service, was travelling through Blaenau when the crash happened and saw the white Vaxuhall Corsa involved.
“Because I have travelled on that road so many times I knew that that car was travelling too quick,” he said when questioned by Miss Hughes.
“I instinctively put on the brakes and I really couldn’t compute what was going on. It seemed [as if] the car was being chased by police. I saw the car go over the white lines and then it hit a wall and the electric post with a huge bang, came to an abrupt stop on its roof, and the power to the street was off.”
Mr Griffiths said that when he saw the Vauxhall Corsa travelling on the road he “knew for a fact that that car was unable to take that corner” and that after the crash he stopped his own vehicle and put on his hazard lights.
“I came out of the car and called 999,” he said. “I then handed the phone to a young lady and went to the scene. I was very aware that the cables were down and there was a smell of petrol. I tried to keep people away. I went to the passenger side and saw that, as the car was upside down, a male was trapped by his seatbelt. I asked if he was okay but he was unresponsive.”
When asked what speed the Vauxhall Corsa was being driven at in the seconds prior to the crash Mr Griffiths said: “I would estimate the speed to be approximately 60mph”.
When asked by Mr Leathley if the speed could have been lower, for example 48mph or 38mph, Mr Griffiths said it could have been the former but not the latter in his opinion.
Roberts has previously admitted a charge of causing death by careless driving but denies causing death by dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
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