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A 29-year-old man has been found guilty of causing the deaths of a father and his 11-year-old son by dangerous driving, following a case police today said had left an "indelible mark" on the island's community.
Dylan John Pounds had already pleaded guilty in the Royal Court to causing the deaths of Dean and Charlie Lowe on the evening of 5 August by careless driving and failing to stop and report an accident, but prosecutors alleged that he is guilty of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
Speaking after the verdict, Inspector David Turnbull said the police's "deepest condolences" were with the family and friends of Dean and Charlie, whose "tragic deaths" had left an "indelible mark on our island's community".
He added that the investigation had been "challenging and thorough", going on to express his gratitude to the officers and staff who had worked "tirelessly" alongside the Law Officers' Department to deliver today's verdict.
The Inspector said the case "serves as a reminder of the responsibilities we all carry on our roads and the grave consequences of failing to meet those responsibilities".
Video: Inspector David Turnbull gave a statement following the verdict.
The Royal Court trial opened on Monday, with the court shown footage of Charlie Lowe warning his father "imagine being hit by a drunk driver" just minutes before their deaths on Rue de Fauvic in Grouville.
On Tuesday, the Royal Court heard from people who had seen Pounds in the pub before the incident. An eyewitness shared how he was "jovial", "jokey" and "very drunk" on the dancefloor in a pub just before the collision, and was "sloshing" a pint of beer around.
On the third day, a forensic pathologist and the woman who found the father and son, Amanda Fairnie, gave evidence.
Pictured: Dean and Charlie Lowe.
She sobbed as she recalled finding Charlie lying facedown, and trying to check if he was breathing – but he did not respond in any way. She then noticed Ms Fairnie said she then noticed Mr Lowe’s body, lying in a similar position, a little further up the road. He was also unresponsive.
The forensic pathologist explained how the injuries suffered by both were not survivable.
The team defending Pounds did not call any witnesses to give evidence, and the closing statements were presented to the presiding Jurats on Friday.
In his closing speech this afternoon, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, argued that there was strong evidence that Pounds had been drinking heavily before driving his van, and was speeding and using his mobile phone as he drove it.
He said: “There is a plethora of failings on the part of the driver that take this well beyond carelessness and well into dangerousness.”
The Lowe family had been attending a birthday party that evening and Advocate Maletroit said: “Little did they know that it was the last occasion they would ever spend together as a family.”
CCTV footage from inside the Dolphin Hotel in Gorey as well as the testimony of witnesses showed that Pounds had been drinking heavily.
The advocate said: “What we have here is a nine-hour drinking session where the defendant drank around nine or ten pints of lager.”
Mobile phone records showed that Pounds made a three-minute call just as he pulled out of the Pembroke pub car park in his van.
The advocate said: “There was no hands-free set-up in the van. It would have been a distraction at a time when he should have been concentrating on the road.
“He didn’t apply emergency braking, not even when he hit pedestrians, not even when Dean Lowe impacted on the windscreen.”
Video: Chief Inspector Craig Jackson read a statement on behalf of Dean and Charlie's family.
But Advocate Ian Jones, defending, said in his closing comments that there was uncertainty about the identity of a van seen speeding that night.
He said: “Can you be sure that that was the van? You can’t.”
He added: “You cannot be sure that Mr Pounds was on the phone. You may think he might have been. But ‘might have been’ is not good enough.”
The defence advocate also said that the evidence of Mr Pounds’s friend Callum Best was unreliable because he had been unable to remember certain details.
He said: “You can only be sure that Mr Pounds consumed one pint.”
Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae was presiding, sitting with Jurats Jane Ronge and Karen Le Cornu, who returned their verdict this afternoon.
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