Mansfield teenager left pal with catastrophic brain injuries in ‘prank that went seriously wrong’
A Mansfield teenager didn’t intend to leave her friend with catastrophic brain injuries after she fell from the boot of her speeding car in “a prank that went seriously wrong,” a court heard.
Evie Robinson had spent the evening with friends in the car park of the Odeon on Park Lane, Mansfield, on August 5 last year.
Amelia Trem, prosecuting, said Robinson's victim asked if she and another girl could get into the boot of Robinson’s white Audi A1 to be driven around the car park.
But when Robinson sped off both girls were spilled out of the boot.
The second girl hit her head and briefly blacked out, but Robinson’s victim, who was sitting on the ledge of the boot with her legs hanging over the bumper, fell out face first and stayed unmoving on the ground.
A CT scan revealed a bleed on her brain which required the removal of part of her skull to relieve the pressure in an emergency operation.
At first she couldn’t talk and had difficulty understanding complex information, the court heard.
Since her discharge from hospital she has needed speech and language therapy, suffers from a severe persistent headache, and has been diagnosed with epilepsy as a result of the brain injury.
“You have damaged all who cherish her,” her victim's mum told Robinson when she read out her statement.
“We will never be free of the life sentence you have imposed on her. Our fight is a relentless battle of uncertainty.”
Lucky Thandi, mitigating, said the incident took place “over a short distance and over a short period of time” and Robinson is “riddled with guilt” for her actions.
CCTV footage previously showed her victim clinging to the roof of another vehicle which was reversed, then driven forwards, then reversed by another driver.
She described Robinson, who has no previous convictions, as a hard-working, kind and valued member of the community who faces “a life sentence of guilt.”
Robinson, now 20, of Cromford Avenue, Mansfield, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on March 3.
On Wednesday, she received two years, suspended for two years, with 150 hours unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation sessions. She was also banned from driving for four years.
Judge Robert Egbuna told her: “You did not set out and nor did any of your friends who ended up in the boot of your car contemplate the actions that would cause life-threatening injuries that happened when the tragic events unfolded.
“Prior to the accident people were present and (the victim) and others were climbing on to a car and holding on the roof driven by someone else unidentified which was then driven forwards and backwards and it is submitted that set the scene for a prank that had gone seriously wrong.”