Bike owner Nicolette Lewis was knocked off her bike by a HGV and died on the roadside. Her household described her as a “stunning mom and spouse” and a “fantastic soul”.
A lorry driver who knocked down a bike owner in a collision which claimed the lifetime of the rider has been discovered not responsible of inflicting her dying. Nicolette Lewis’ bike was struck from behind by a HGV being pushed by John Evans as she rode on the A476 close to Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire in October 2023 and he or she was “thrown” right into a roadside ditch.
Regardless of the most effective efforts of motorists and paramedics, the 52-year-old was pronounced useless on the scene. Following Mrs Lewis’ dying, her household described her as a “stunning mom and spouse” and a “fantastic soul”.
Mr Evans denied inflicting the dying of Mrs Lewis by careless driving, saying he was quickly “blinded” by low solar and didn’t see the bike owner forward of him. The 62-year-old driver was discovered not responsible at Swansea Crown Court docket on Wednesday following a three-day trial. For the most recent courtroom tales signal as much as our crime e-newsletter
The courtroom had beforehand heard Mrs Lewis was a “sturdy and skilled” bike owner who was a member of an area biking membership. At round 4.45pm on October 9, 2023, her husband Andrew noticed her on her common night journey as he was driving residence – however that may be the final time the couple noticed one another.
Round quarter-hour later Mr Evans was on the wheel of his Volvo articulated lorry on the A476 between Ffairfach and Carmel on his manner again to the close by haulage yard the place he was based mostly when he struck Mrs Lewis from behind as she rode in the identical course.
At trial Mr Evans instructed the jury that as he emerged from an space of shade brought on by timber and took a bend within the highway he was “blinded” by the low solar, and responded by taking his foot off the accelerator to sluggish his lorry. He stated a number of seconds later he heard a “bang” and braked closely. Mr Evans instructed the courtroom he at no time noticed the bike owner forward of him.
He instructed the courtroom he was “devastated” on the dying of Mrs Lewis and devastated for her household, however stated he didn’t imagine he had achieved something incorrect.
It was the prosecution case that the driving of Mr Evans – of Llangynog in Carmarthenshire – fell beneath the usual anticipated of cautious and competent driver.
In the course of the trial the courtroom heard that Mr Evans first inserted the driving force’s card into the Volvo’s tachograph gadget at 3.15am on the day in query and had pushed for a complete of eight hours and 52 minutes having taken on the required breaks; that no mechanical faults had been discovered on the car; and that the Volvo didn’t have a working dashcam, the unit having been decommissioned by the earlier homeowners earlier than being acquired by Richard Thomas haulage.
The courtroom additionally heard that climate on the day in query had been nice and dry with “solar low within the sky”; that the lorry had handed by way of a wooded space some 120 metres previous to the purpose of collision; and that the lorry had been travelling at round 50mph within the lead as much as the collision.
The jury heard that there had been a three-and-a-half second interval of deceleration which noticed the velocity lowered by 5mph previous to the purpose of influence.
In his closing speech on behalf of Mr Evans, barrister John Hipkin KC instructed the jury that the truth was generally in life there are issues which “simply occur” the place no person can actually be blamed.
He described the occasions of October 9 as a “tragic accident” involving “two individuals who occur to be within the incorrect place on the incorrect time” when probabilities of “thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands to 1” went towards them.
After deliberating for some three-and-a-half hours, the jury discovered the defendant not responsible.
Thanking the members of the jury, decide Huw Rees stated instances resembling inflicting dying by careless driving had been a few of the most tough to attempt, and stated they had been a reminder to everybody that driving was “inherently harmful”.
The decide instructed the courtroom that since giving his witness assertion, Mrs Lewis’ husband Andrew had handed away and he provided his condolences to the household.
