Doctor who killed Abergavenny teenager spared jail

Dr Sally Robeson, 33, ploughed into the family car of 19-year-old Rebecca Davies – herself an aspiring doctor – after her parents had picked her up from university.

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The defendant was on her way to Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital in her pink Peugeot 208 when she claimed she became dazzled by the light of another car.

Prosecutor Eugene Egan said Robeson had not acted as a "careful and competent driver" and had lost control.

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Miss Davies, from Goytre, near Abergavenny, suffered severe injuries in the back seat and died at the same hospital where Robeson worked as a trauma specialist in A&E.

Rebecca Davies was studying biochemistry at Birmingham University

She suffered catastrophic injuries to her stomach and passed away two hours after the collision on January 2, 2020.

Becky would have made a wonderful doctor

Her mother Carol told Newport Crown Court in a moving victim personal statement: “She was our beautiful and fun-loving daughter.

“She was always striving to make the world a better place.

Dr Sally Robeson worked in A&E at Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital. Picture: Wales News Service

“Becky was our life, our shining star. She was very popular with her friends from school and university and from our local chapel.

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“The whole community was greatly shocked by her death. Her boyfriend of six months was devastated.

“She was an outgoing and intelligent young woman and she undoubtedly had a bright future ahead of her.”

Mrs Davies added: “She wanted to help other people and pursue a career in research or as a doctor. She touched so many lives.

Rebecca was a volunteer with the St John Ambulance and at a hospice

“Her tutor wrote to say, ‘Becky’s life was an inspiration. I have no doubt she would have made a wonderful doctor.'

“A friend said, ‘She never failed to light up any room she was in and she will be forever missed.’

“I never got the chance to give her a last hug. It’s the moment my life became a living hell.

This is a tragically sad case

“I think it would have been better if we had all died that night.

“The light has gone out of our lives. Our future happiness has been destroyed.”

Mrs Davies and her husband William suffered life-changing physical injuries as a result of the collision.

Heath Edwards, representing the defendant, said: “Sally Robeson is devastated by the harm she has brought on the Davies family.

“She would do anything she could to turn back the hands of time.

“She has never sought to blame anyone but herself for the accident that took place that night.”

Mr Edwards said the crash had happened because of a “momentary lapse of attention”.

He added how his client’s career had been “shattered” by the events of that night.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Robeson: “This is a tragically sad case.

“No sentence can begin to address or assuage the pain and sense of loss caused to Mr and Mrs Davies.

“This was a momentary lapse which you will no doubt have to live with, as will Mr and Mrs Davies, for the rest of your days.”

She was sentenced to an 18-month community order and told she must complete a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Robeson was banned from driving for two years and ordered to pay £2,000 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge.

The defendant, of Danesleigh Gardens, Leigh-On-Sea, Essex, had denied causing death by driving without due care and attention.

But she was found guilty following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

Mr Egan had told the jury: "The bottom line is the defendant was not driving in an appropriate fashion that day and lost control of her car in circumstances where a careful and competent driver would have kept on the right side of the road.

"Perhaps Sally Robeson was tired and not as fresh or alert as she thought she was. Perhaps she looked down at the sat nav on the bend."