Speeding hit-and-run driver jailed after teen left with life-changing injuries
Danny Dale fled the scene while Declan Osborne was lying in the road with broken bones, bruised lungs and a serious brain injury.
A speeding hit-and-run driver who left a teenage moped rider lying in the road with life-changing injuries while he fled from the scene, was starting a five-year jail sentence today.
Danny Dale ignored warnings to slow down before overtaking a taxi and did not see 16-year-old Declan Osborne making a right turn until it was too late.
CCTV showed the Honda Civic, which the 26-year-old father of five was not insured to drive, doing more than 60mph in a 30 limit 200 metres before it struck the scooter, cannoned into a wall and spun back into Birmingham Road at its junction with MacMillan Road, Rowley Regis.
Shameless Dale, of Habberley Road, Blackheath, denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving and during his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court tried to heap the blame onto his passenger - former friend Jonathan Mundle - and Declan.
But the jury took just 42 minutes to unanimously convict him of the offence.
Judge Nicholas Webb said after the verdict had been announced that the evidence was overwhelming.
He told the defendant: "You have your own problems but they are as nothing when compared to those you bequeathed onto Declan by a dreadful course of dangerous driving.
"The way in which you persisted in driving at twice the speed limit or more and overtook on a junction made a serious collision unavoidable.
"You had been on the wrong side of the road when you hit him.
"Declan was totally blameless but you have sought to blame him and your passenger."
The moped rider's sister, 28-year-old Nicole Osborne, who with their father, has spent many hours selflessly caring for Declan, said after the case: "As a family we can now have some closure to what was a very tragic event.
"We would like to thank all the parties involved in the trial and are happy that the right decision was reached.
"Declan is still undergoing extensive brain injury treatment."
The court heard that the tragic teenager was not capable of independent living.
Injuries suffered when hit by the Honda Civic on January 30 2016 have left him with overall intellectual functioning above that of only four percent of the population, said Mr Edmund Blackman, prosecuting.
Dc Claire Byrne, from the West Midlands Police Collision Investigation Unit said after the trial: “Despite having caused serious injury to the moped rider through his dangerous driving, Dale then got out of the car and ran away from the scene without making any attempt to see if he was injured or contact the emergency services.
“Thankfully, witnesses came to the aid of Declan until he was treated by the ambulance service and taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“Declan remained in critical care for 16 days, he had suffered serious injuries including severe traumatic brain injury and fractures.
"He returned home and now is living with the lasting effects of his injuries.”
