Saxmundham: Fatal crash driver avoids jail sentence
Darren Baker, who admitted death by careless driving - Credit: Contributed
A MOTORIST who was involved in a fatal collision with a cyclist and was traced after police matched his car with a broken wing mirror left at the scene has walked free from court after a judge decided not to jail him.
Cyclist David Noy was killed when he was hit by a car being driven by Darren Baker - Credit: Contributed
Darren Baker, 47, was on his way to Farlingaye High School, in Woodbridge, where he works as an IT technician at about 7.30am on January 4 last year when he hit 65-year-old David Noy on the B1121 near Saxmundham.
Mr Noy, from Saxmundham, was found badly injured at the side of the road by another motorist who dialled 999, said Martin Ivory, prosecuting.
Mr Noy, a keen cyclist, suffered a serious head injury and died the next day.
Baker, of Manor Gardens, Saxmundham, admitted causing Mr Noy’s death by careless driving and was given a one-year community order, ordered to do 240 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for three years.
Sentencing him, Judge Rupert Overbury said there were no witnesses to the “tragic accident” and Baker had no memory of what happened.
“There is no evidence that this memory loss is anything but genuine,” he said.
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He said it was unclear if Baker had stopped at the scene of the accident but even if he did, he had not done anything to help Mr Noy.
After yesterday’s hearing, Mr Noy’s brother Tony and sister-in-law Grace said they were disappointed that Baker hadn’t received a short prison sentence.
Speaking on their behalf, a police spokesman said: “He (Baker) left Mr Noy lying on the verge and could have done something to help him. For that reason they wanted him to have a short sentence to reflect on that failure to help him.”
Mr Ivory said that police who traced Baker through the broken wing mirror on his car found he had arrived at work more than three hours late on the day of the accident with self-inflicted injuries on his arms.
Michael Clare, for Baker, said his client felt genuine remorse for what had happened. He said Baker couldn’t remember the accident but it was likely he had been distracted for a short period.
