A Crown Court judge has described a head-on collision at Letterston as 'the worst case of dangerous driving I've ever had to deal with'.

Addressing a packed public gallery at Swansea Crown Court this morning (Monday, October 24), Judge Geraint Walters said it was a miracle that the defendant wasn’t being sentenced for causing multiple deaths rather than multiple injuries.

“In my time at the Bar and on the Bench I haven’t personally encountered a piece of driving that’s wrecked so many lives,” he said.

“In terms of harm, it couldn’t have been more serious, short of death.”

On the evening of September 24, 2021, five men were travelling together in a Skoda Caroq following a darts tournament at The Drovers Arms in Puncheston. It was dark and there was patchy fog.

Soon after reaching the main A40 at Letterston, they saw a car ‘coming straight at them’ on the wrong side of the road.

The Chrysler was being driven by Elijah Rowland, of Prendergast, Haverfordwest who had passed his driving test just three weeks prior to the collision.

“Dorian Williams [the Skoda driver], tried to swerve to avoid the oncoming car, but was stopped from doing so by an embankment,” said Counsel for the Crown, Jim Davis.

“As a result, there was nothing he could do to avoid a head-on collision.”

The impact was catastrophic.

Rhys Mcloughlin and Arwel Thomas managed to get out of the vehicle and ring 999.

They then discovered that Dorian Williams and his brother, Gareth, were both trapped in vehicle. Flames had started appearing from the engine bay and Gareth could be heard screaming ‘Please don’t leave me here to die’.

“Gareth thought he was going to be burnt alive,” said Jim Davis.

Despite being in tremendous pain, Arwel Thomas and Rhys Mcloughlin managed to release Gareth from the vehicle as well as his brother Dorian and Jonathan Lewis, who was in the rear.

“By now, the flames were getting worse and there was a fear of explosion,” added Mr Davis.

A police statement read to the court described the scene as ‘one of utter chaos with people screaming in every direction’.

The Sea King helicopter and Wales Air Ambulance were summoned to the scene and transported the casualties to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool, Glangwili and Withybush.

Jonathan Lewis, Gareth Williams, Dorian Williams, Rhys Mcloughlin and a passenger in the defendant’s vehicle who cannot be named for legal reason sustained multiple injuries including a skull fracture, ruptured diaphragm, two collapsed lungs, broken ribs, a fractured lumbar spine, a fractured pelvis and internal bleeding.

“I’ll never forget the fear I felt for my brother who was trapped in the passenger seat,” Dorien Williams told the court.

“I honestly thought I was going to lose him that night. I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt that I was driving the car, but I could do nothing to help the situation.”

Meanwhile his brother, Gareth, said he was still waiting for his life ‘to get back to some kind of normality’.

“I feel like my body has aged ten years and I still struggle with daily tasks,” he said.

Jonathan Lewis shared Mr Williams’ fears.

“I’ve tried to be positive but I know, in my heart, my injuries will never be healed 100 per cent. I wish I could say that everything is going to be alright in the future, but I can’t.”

Rhys Mcloughlin, a father of four children under the age of 10, said the hardest thing was being unable to take part in his children’s day-to-day lives as a result of the pressure on his brain which has prevented him from driving.

“Being unable to do activities with your children is heart-breaking,” he said. “It’s changed who I am.”

Rowland pleaded guilty to five charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

“A young person might learn how to drive and how to answer the questions in the theory test but maturity isn’t something that can be memorised”, said Judge Geraint Walters.

“You got it completely wrong.”

Rowland was sentenced to 18 months detention and was disqualified from driving for two years and nine months.