Source : Perth Now news
“I can’t babe, I’m sorry.”
These were the tragic last words a loving father told his partner moments before falling unconscious and dying.
Sharon Griffiths remembers the heartbreak vividly after Gareth Davies had been badly hurt in a car accident.
The 43-year-old was indicating to turn right when Dale Groves smashed into the side of Mr Davies car while trying to overtake.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Griffiths told how she arrived at the horrific scene to find her partner in a lot of pain but alive.
“Gareth was very distressed and was clearly in a lot of pain,” she said.
“I called out to him to let him know I was there to reassure and comfort him and get him to calm down so the firefighter could help him.
“But he said, ‘I can’t babe, I’m sorry’. He became quiet and lost consciousness.
“The firefighters performed CPR on him and started shouting where the ambulance was.”
Paramedics were frantically working on Mr Davies when their two sons arrived at the scene.
“I was approached by two people, a doctor and a police officer, who told us the worst news imaginable,” Ms Griffiths said.
“There was nothing else that could be done and Gareth had passed away.
“We collapsed into each other in shock, trying to keep each other standing up.”
Ms Griffiths said they were left feeling helpless.
“Gareth was put into the back of an ambulance and we were allowed to spend time with him before he was transported to the hospital mortuary,” she said.
“A feeling of numbness and a false sense of reality followed in the weeks.
“We had to wait for the post mortem and felt helpless, we had no sense of purpose.
“There was no way to move forward, as if everything had stopped.”
Ms Griffiths and her sons lives were changed forever on April 13, 2023, when Groves tried to overtake Mr Davies in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.
Instead, he crashed into Mr Davies before trying three times to call emergency services and being told there could be a wait of “over three hours”.
In Cardiff Crown Court this week, Groves — who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving — was spared jail and instead handed a 10-month two-year suspended sentence.
He was also ordered to carry out 250 hours of community service work and disqualified from driving for five years.
Outside of court, Ms Griffiths struggled to contain her anger and pain.
“The driver used the phrase ‘massive mistake’. His massive mistake has destroyed our family,” she said.
“Our lives are unrecognisable to what they were. Gareth’s life was taken and ours were ruined.”
