A mother’s life has been utterly devastated after she was left paralysed by a speeding teenage driver, who filmed himself on his phone while using his knees to steer.
Catherine Davies went into cardiac arrest and was airlifted to hospital, fighting for her life, after the crash on the A47 in January 2023.
The 51-year-old, who was a fitness instructor and an active mother of a nine-year-old son at the time, suffered fractured vertebrae and is now quadriplegic and requires ventilation for breathing.
Her father Jeremy told Norwich Crown Court: “As a result of this accident, Catherine’s life has been utterly devastated.
“She will never breathe for herself again, let alone feel anything from the neck down. She will never taste food again, she will always struggle to communicate.
"She will never be able to hug her son again. She may not be able to work. She now requires 24-hour care.”
READ MORE: Mobile-using teen driver left woman paralysed in A47 crash
George Taylor, 19, was at the wheel of a VW Golf when he drove into the back of her Skoda Fabia without slowing down at the crossroads of Church Lane and Sandy Lane, between Hockering and Honingham.
He told police he had been reached for his vape at the time of the crash. However, phone records showed he had repeatedly used his phone on a journey from Terrington St Clements including taking photos, filming videos and sending texts.
Richard Paterson, prosecuting, said he had steered the car using only his knees while overtaking.
One of the people he was on the phone to had become so concerned that they warned him to stop, the court was told.
READ MORE: Woman critical after A47 crash at East Tuddenham
Taylor, who was 17 at the time and had passed his test just three months earlier, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Jailing him for two years and two months in a youth offenders' institution, Judge Anthony Bate told him it had been “prolonged and persistent dangerous driving” and that it was “remarkable you didn’t collide sooner”.
Representing himself in court, Taylor said: “I wish I had never got a driving licence or a car.”
He was banned from driving for three years and three months and ordered to take an extended re-test.
CATHERINE’S LIFE WAS CHANGED IN A SPLIT SECOND
Following the collision Mrs Davies, who “dotes on her son”, spent months in hospitals including a specialist unit in Sheffield.
Her father said: “Catherine has always been such a gregarious person with a great sense of humour and so full of life.
“To hear that my only daughter may not survive was heart-breaking and, as her dad, all I wanted to do was make everything better for her.
“Catherine’s life was changed in a split second, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Speaking after the sentencing, lead investigating officer Sgt Callum Walchester of Norfolk police, said: “This is a deeply tragic case which, like many collisions, could have been entirely avoidable.
“George Taylor made multiple decisions to use his mobile phone that day and in doing so put himself and everyone else at significant risk. It was Catherine who paid the price.”
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