A 29-YEAR-OLD man who killed a father and son in a hit-and-run collision had been drinking all afternoon on the day that the crash happened – and had had nothing to eat that day except a bacon roll, the Royal Court was told yesterday.
The assertions were made during the second day of the trial of Dylan John Pounds.
Mr Pounds knocked down and killed 48-year-old father Dean Lowe and his 11-year-old son, Charlie, in the collision in Rue de Fauvic on the evening of 5 August last year.
He has admitted the lesser charge of causing the deaths by careless driving, but prosecutors allege that he is guilty of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
He has also admitted failing to stop and report an accident.
The maximum sentences for causing death by careless driving and causing death by dangerous driving are two and ten years’ imprisonment respectively.
The court heard evidence from Sarah Blake, who had been in the Pembroke pub on that evening with her partner and another friend.
Ms Blake told the court that her group had got talking to the defendant and his friend Callum Best. She recalled: “It appeared that they had been drinking for a few hours. They were drinking pints of beer.”
The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, presiding, asked her: “Did you think either of them were capable of driving?”
She replied: “No, not at that point.”
She had told Mr Pounds and Mr Best that her group were going to the Dolphin Hotel where a live band was playing, and offered them a lift. She was driving because she had not been drinking that night.
She said: “They were jovial, jokey and loud.”
Of Mr Pounds, she added: “My vivid memory is of him on the dancefloor with a pint glass of beer sloshing from side to side and spilling it. He was very drunk, in my opinion.”
Ms Blake, her partner and their friend left the Dolphin Hotel before Mr Pounds and Mr Best.
Mr Best gave evidence on the first day of the trial, on Monday.
He said that he and Mr Pounds had gone to the Union Inn in Grande Route de Saint Jean just after midday that day and had each had a bacon roll – which was all they ate that day.
After drinking there they moved to the Pembroke pub in Grouville and then accepted the offer of a lift to the Dolphin Hotel in Gorey.
He said: “The plan was to have a couple more drinks, listen to the music and get the bus home.”
CCTV footage from inside the bus showed the pair boarding the vehicle to St Helier and Pounds getting off at Grouville Station bus stop. He then picked up his van from the pub car park and drove home in it.
Gavin Renault, a homeowner whose property overlooks Rue de Fauvic, remembered hearing a “dull thud” on the road later that evening but no signs of a vehicle trying to stop.
Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, asked him: “Did you hear any screeching tyres or anything you would associate with braking?”
Mr Renault said: “No.”
The advocate asked: “Was there anything you would associate with colliding with a wall, for example?”
He again replied: “No.”
Advocate Ian Jones, defending, asked the homeowner: “You never heard a car engine. Would you expect to hear one with the windows closed?”
Mr Renault said: “No.”
The trial is expected to conclude next week.
The Deputy Bailiff is presiding with Jurats Jane Ronge and Karen Le Cornu sitting.
