A driver has been jailed after killing a girl in a car crash just hours after meeting her in a nightclub.
Keilan Roberts was 21 when he lost control of his Skoda Octavia in Fochriw, Caerphilly county, last July, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The car collided with protective railings on a cattle grid which “pierced the windscreen” and fatally injured 17-year-old Chloe Hayman.
The defendant pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving with alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine in his blood.
At Cardiff Crown Court, Roberts, 22, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison and banned from driving for 10 years after killing Chloe Hayman.
She was described by her family as a “beautiful, loving daughter” and a “kind, caring sister”.
Her mother, giving a victim impact statement, told the court she felt “utterly heartbroken” following Ms Hayman’s death.
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She said they were like “best friends” as well as mother and daughter.
Analysis of the defendant’s blood found the presence of alcohol as well as drugs ketamine, MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy, and Benzoylecgonine – the main metabolite of cocaine.
‘Lost control’
Handing down his sentence, Judge Morgan said Roberts, from Rhymney, Caerphilly county, “lost control of [his] car through momentary inadvertence, no doubt because of the alcohol and controlled substances you had consumed”.
“You travelled from your home in Rhymney to a nightclub in Pontypridd,” the Judge said.
“Knowing that you were going to be consuming alcohol, you left your car in Deri and you and the friends with whom you intended to spend the evening, travelled from Deri in a car driven by a friend who was not attending the rave.”
The friend had agreed to collect them from Pontypridd “at 4 o’clock the following morning”.
“At some point during the evening you and your girlfriend had a disagreement and she departed,” the Judge added.
“You left the rave in the early hours in the company of your friends and 17-year-old Chloe Hayman, whom you had met at the rave, and who you decided to take home with you.”
Roberts had promised to return Ms Hayman to her home in Tonypandy the next morning.
On reaching Deri where Roberts had left his car, Roberts asked his friend “to stop so that [he] could collect something from [his] car”.
“In fact, you and Chloe Hayman entered your car, you started it and began driving it up over the mountain in the direction of Fochriw on the way to Rhymney,” he said.
This was, Judge Morgan said, “to the consternation of your friends who immediately concluded that you were in no fit state to drive”.
‘Cut short’
Chloe’s mother, Danielle O’Halloran, was in tears as she read out her victim impact statement in court.
“Losing Chloe has brought so much loss, pain and heartache to me and my family,” she said.
She said she would not see Ms Hayman “finding love, getting married, becoming a mother”.
“That was all cut short the morning that I heard the words all parents dread.”
Her mother said Ms Hayman “was the only person I trusted and felt safe with”.
“For 17 years we walked through life together, growing, learning,” she added.
Turning to face a tearful Roberts in the dock, she said: “I do forgive you, I just want you to learn”.
Speaking outside the court after sentencing, Ms O’Halloran said “the sentencing feels like an insult to us as a family”.
‘Our world’
Ms Hayman’s stepmother, Alix Hayman, said she was their “world”.
“To us she was our world and since the loss of Chloe our world has been shattered and torn apart,” she said.
“Chloe was just starting to think about how she wanted her life to look.”
Ms Hayman said her stepdaughter “lived and loved life”, “she was fearless” and had “a wicked sense of humour”.
“You have torn our family apart for one silly decision,” she said, addressing Roberts.
“I can only hope that the guilt and shame for what you have done lives with you for the rest of your life.”
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‘Very sorry’
Mitigating, Jeffrey Jones KC said “the defendant is very sorry to Chloe Hayman’s family”.
He said Roberts was “genuinely contrite” and appealed to the court to “make the sentence as short as possible”.
He has had a “fractured and relatively sad” upbringing, being raised by his grandparents.
“Still at the time in the process of maturing,” he said.
Speaking outside court, Detective Sergeant Sean Fletcher from Gwent Police, described it as a “very tragic case”.
“This is a very tragic case where a young woman who had her whole life ahead of her died as a result of Roberts’ reckless actions,” he said.
“Our thoughts continue to be with Chloe’s family at this time. She is the most important thing on this day.
“I want to remind everyone who gets behind the wheel, there are no excuses for driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs.”
