A SCIENTIST who lost her unborn baby in a head-on collision in which one man died was cleared of causing death by driving without due care and attention this week.
35-year-old Laura Matthews-James, from Pen-y-groes, had denied the charge. Swansea Crown Court heard that she had been seven months pregnant when her Fiat 500 collided with Robert Hitchcock’s car in February last year.
The court heard that Ms Matthews-James had no memory of the crash, which happened on the B4300, and denied that the overtaking manoeuvre she performed involved taking a risk.
The biomedical scientist had been on her way to work in Glangwili Hospital when she crashed into 54-year-old Mr Hitchcock, who was killed instantly.
Ms Matthews-James was airlifted to hospital, where doctors found that her baby had died, and she had an emergency caesarean section.
The crash occurred after Ms Matthews-James overtook two vehicles. Prosecuting, Jim Davies said that ‘in doing so she lost control of her vehicle and collided, head on, with an oncoming car which was being driven by Mr Hitchcock’.
Ms Mathews-James also suffered severe injuries, including haemorrhages in the brain and fractured ankles.
Speaking to the jury during the trial, Ms Matthews-James said that she had no memory of the crash, but ‘wouldn’t take any risks [with her driving] because I was pregnant’.
Representing Ms Matthews-James, Ignatius Hughes referred to a statement from a psychologist which said that the crash had left her in ‘a fragile and stressed’ emotional state.
He added that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the accident and the loss of her unborn child.
The statement said: “She has said she doesn’t want to bring a child into the world because in her words ‘I’ve killed my baby’.”
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