Teenage girl killed by best friend 'clowning around' in a car - her family are livid at her sentence
08.10.2023 - 09:43
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A teenage girl described by her family as a 'princess' was killed when her best friend lost control of a car she was driving while 'clowning around' on a road, a court heard. Tayla King, 20, had only held a driving licence for 33 days at the time of the crash.
A judge has now suspended her prison sentence, with the family of victim Chantelle Thomas, 18, hitting out at the sentence and saying 'justice has not been done'.
Chantelle suffered catastrophic injuries in the crash in Swansea, Wales, in January last year. Despite the best efforts of passers-by and paramedics, she could not be saved and died at the scene.
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King was handed a suspended sentence at Swansea Crown Court for causing death by careless driving.
At the time of her death, Chantelle's family shared a short tribute to their 'princess'. Now, following the sentencing hearing, her mother, Denise Thomas, said: "As a family we are absolutely heartbroken at the loss of our daughter Chantelle, we are not happy with the outcome of the hearing.
"What sort of outlook does this give to youngsters to abide by the law? Tayla is free to carry on her life where Chantelle was robbed of her life. Justice was certainly not done.
"Losing Chantelle has had a devastating impact of the whole family and everyone who knew her, we didn't get the verdict we feel we deserved as we haven't had closure to what happened and never will as Tayla still refuses to give an explanation to what really happened which is extremely hurtful to us a family as she was supposed to be