Man told he faces long prison term

Man told he faces long prison term

4 May 2016

A KILLYLEAGH man, who crashed into a car driven by a woman he was due to meet for a first date, is facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Thirty three year-old Trevor Woodside has been warned by Judge Piers Grant that he faces a “substantial custodial sentence” when he appears back at Downpatrick Crown Court later this month.

Woodside, of Castleview, appeared in the court on Wednesday and admitted four charges of causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving with excess alcohol and not having insurance.

Prosecution counsel, Sam Magee, told the court the accident happened on March 30, 2014 when Woodside was due to meet the woman in Downpatrick for “their first date’’.

He said Woodside had taken a Mercedes car belonging to his employer without his permission and had been drinking earlier in the day.

The court heard the woman was travelling from Newry to Downpatrick for their first date and while en route she received a number of text messages from Woodside asking about her location.

She asked him had he been drinking and he replied ‘No’.

Mr Magee said the woman was driving along the Ballydugan Road outside Downpatrick in her Volkswagen Golf car travelling at a speed of 45mph.

“As she approached the junction with the Drumcullen Road suddenly a black Mercedes car came at her at speed after having crossed on to her side of the road.

“One witness described that the black Mercedes had passed their vehicle ‘like a rocket’.

“The woman swerved in an attempt to avoid a collision, but to no avail,” said Mr Magee.

Following the head-on collision, the court heard, the Volkswagen Golf careered down a bank and into trees. The force of the impact had dislodged the engine of Golf car onto the road.

Witnesses said that after impact the Mercedes car “spun around before coming to rest in the grass verge’’.

“The driver of the vehicle was Trevor Woodside and the female driver of the Volkswagen had been on her way to meet him. He was conscious and was complaining of a back injury. He had been drinking and he had no licence,’’ said Mr Magee.

“The driver of the Volkswagen Golf was knocked unconscious. She was freed from the vehicle and taken to hospital. She underwent open surgery to address her right foot and had a plate ed. She also sustained an injury to her chest and had a drain inserted into her chest.

“She had skin grafts to her foot and further surgery will be required to her foot. She spent two weeks in hospital.’’

Woodside was arrested and cautioned while being treated in hospital. Five hours after the accident Woodside was tested and found to have 154 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his blood. “He was twice the legal limit at this time,’’ the prosecutor told Judge Grant.

The court heard that officers from the PSNI’s Collision Investigation Unit examined CCTV from Market Street, Downpatrick and identified the black Mercedes travelling on the wrong side of the road out of Downpatrick at speeds between 47-53 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Judge Grant heard that Woodside told police that he was heading to Castlewellan and as he drove round the corner of the Ballydugan Road “someone else was there’’, adding “it was a moment of madness’’.

He said he had “no recollection of the events and couldn’t remember anything until he woke up in hospital’’.

Mr Magee told the court Woodside “expressed his sorrow’’ for what happened and said he “could have killed himself and somebody else’’ that evening.

Judge Grant said he wanted a Victim Impact Report on the injured woman to be compiled before he passed sentence.

Refusing a defence application for Woodside to be released on continuing bail until sentence is passed on May 11, Judge Grant said: “I have heard all the relevant information. It is inevitable that a substantial custodial sentence must be imposed in this case.’’

Woodside’s family sobbed in the public gallery as he was led away in handcuffs by prison guards.