A mum died and her young son was seriously injured after a driver’s dangerous manoeuvre. Emma Morris, 28, was killed almost instantly in the smash on the Y Felinheli bypass near Bangor on April 3, 2023.
Jacqueline Mwila was returning to Swansea from a holiday in Ireland when she crossed the road’s double white line to overtake. She accelerated in her Audi A3 during the uphill manoeuvre but collided with the mum-of-two’s Peugeot 208 car, which flipped over.
Emma died “virtually instantaneously” while her son Jack Williams, then aged four, screamed out beside her and was seriously injured. Her new partner James Walsh was also hurt in the smash.
Prosecutor Simon Rogers said Emma’s partner James, who was sitting next to her, had been looking down at his phone when he heard Emma say words to the effect “Oh s***”. He looked up and saw an oncoming car in their outside lane, reports North Wales Live.
The dark grey Audi A3 collided with Emma’s Peugeot and Mr Walsh said the impact “felt like he was losing breath.” The family’s car was then flipped upside down and James crawled out of a smashed window and called out to Emma but there was no reply.
Little Jack suffered brain bleeds, multiple neck, spine and other fractures, and reduced consciousness. Emergency crews rushed the youngster to the regional trauma unit at Alder Hey Hospital on Merseyside.
Mr Walsh suffered a collapsed left lung and a fractured hand. Ms Mwila spent two days in hospital with her injuries. Mr Rogers read out powerful statements from relatives at Caernarfon Crown Court today.
Emma’s Dad Stephen Morris said his “radiant” daughter had been taken away with savage force and explained: “The pain of losing your only child cuts like a knife. She had a new house but hadn’t even gone through the front door which was effectively slammed shut by her death.
“The shock and horror of looking at my girl in the Chapel of Rest – so cold and lifeless – torments me.” Emma’s mother added: “Everybody who knew Emma has been robbed of this beautiful person.”
In his statement, Jack’s Dad Osian Williams said the youngster has had short term memory loss and faces neurological and spinal procedures. He said nothing will replace his mother’s love and support.
And James Walsh says he thinks about the incident every day and especially when he goes to work, which is the same workplace Emma had. Pretending he is okay to colleagues is really an act, he added.
Richard Dawson, defending, said charity worker Mwila’s driving had catastrophic consequences and she is profoundly sorry. She knows she is responsible for a void that can never be filled. The judge, His Honour Timothy Petts, sent Emma’s family his sympathy at this time of “unimaginable grief” in these “horrendous” circumstances.
Turning to Mwila he jailed her for seven years and four months for causing Emma’s death by dangerous driving. He also gave her concurrent sentences for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Investigating Officer, PC Gareth Rogers of the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit said: “While Mwila is now behind bars for this offence, nothing is going to bring Emma back, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with her family and friends, who have suffered unimaginable devastation.
“There is no sentence that can ever replace the hole that has been left in their lives, but we hope the passing of this sentence will act as a reminder to all drivers that momentary decisions to lose concentration can have devastating consequences.”
The family of Emma Louise Morris said, after sentencing: “There is no real justice for Emma. Jaqueline Mwila caused her death by dangerous driving, and although she pleaded guilty to all the charges against her, the sentence she was given does not go nearly far enough for us as a family.
“Our lives have been changed forever, shattered, mutilated by the recklessness and carelessness of this woman who chose to drive so dangerously as to kill our daughter without any regard for other road users that day.”
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