A MOTORIST with a suspected sleep disorder nodded off at the wheel and ploughed into a motorcyclist after ignoring doctors’ advice not to drive, a court has heard. Imtiaz Shah has been handed a 30-month jail term for causing the head-on crash that paralysed dad Steven Hayes, 48. Shah, 42, is likely to serve around half that time, and the victim’s family have criticised the sentence. Steven’s daughter Jenny, 21, said: “He [Shah] condemned my dad to a life sentence dealing with those injuries yet he’ll be out of prison in little more than a year, free to enjoy his life. That is not justice.” The victim will need round-the-clock care for the rest of his life after he had part of his skull removed following the crash. Wife Linda said: “He’ll never be the Steven I fell in love with. We are grieving for the Steven we lost that day.” Shah had been to doctors with symptoms of sleep apnoea. It disrupts sleep and often results in people being severely tired in the day. The court heard that in the months before the crash two GPs warned Shah not to drive while tests were carried out. The dad-of-two continued anyway, and had been at the wheel for 200 miles on the day he smashed into Steven in April last year. Shah was in Blackburn, Lancs, when he failed to straighten up after a roundabout. His Honda CR-V veered over the centre line, struck a Range Rover and continued without braking into Steven. Recorder Simon Earlam said: “He was thrown into the air like a rag doll by the force. The impact was such that his helmet came off. Mr Hayes hit your windscreen leaving hair and flesh where he struck. “He then hit the road surface leaving a trail of blood on the ground. The injuries to Mr Hayes have been permanently life-changing. They have ruined his life.” The Range Rover driver said Shah’s head was down before the crash. Mr Earlam told Preston crown court: “I find you were probably asleep at this stage.” The victim, a former mechanic from Accrington, Lancs, has been released from hospital but is still in a care home. Shah, of Nelson, Lancs, admitted he had been tired at the time of the crash. He was found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and was banned from driving for three years. Only 30 months for ignoring Doctors orders whilst Victim life changing circumstances .... Something wrong here
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 08:05:10 +0000
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