Video: 4½ years for road rage driving instructor who paralysed two young sisters in this horrific crash
Katrina Raiba, five, and her eight-year-old sister Karlina were left with spinal cord injuries when Andrew Nay caused the devastating crash on the A509 in Wellingborough on October 3 last year while chasing another car.
Northampton Crown Court heard that Nay, 39, who worked for Jaguar Land Rover, was tailgating and bullying another driver before pulling right at a junction and ploughing into the victims’ Vauxhall Signum.
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Hide AdNay admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, but had denied he was in pursuit of another car in the run-up to the crash.
Judge Adrienne Lucking QC said Nay’s account of the collision was “incredible and inconsistent” and jailed him for four and a half years. He was also disqualified from driving for four years after his release from prison.
Speaking after the sentencing, the girls’ father, Roberts Raibais, said he felt Nay should have been banned from driving for life.
He said: “It’s good he was given this sentence and will go to prison, but it won’t change what’s happened or help my daughters to walk again.
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Hide Ad“I still don’t think he realises the huge damage he has caused.
“I can’t understand how a driving instructor could behave that way behind the wheel. It’s not a game, this has nearly destroyed my family. There is no excuse.”
Harrowing footage of the crash filmed from the family’s Vauxhall was played to the court and later released by the family.
It shows Nay, of Harrier Close, Weldon, Corby, pulling sharply right at speed with the passenger side of his Land Rover Discovery tilting down before the vehicles collided.
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Hide AdJudge Lucking QC said: “This was a prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of very bad driving.
“No sentence I can pass will ever feel like enough for this family.”
The court heard that the girls’ parents suffered broken bones in the crash and said their lives had changed “200%”.
Marcus Kraehling-Smith, mitigating for Nay, said his client’s actions had “altered the lives of four innocent people” and that he was “truly remorseful”.
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Hide AdReading a letter from Nay, Mr Kraehling-Smith said: “I am truly sorry for all the hurt, pain and devastation that I have caused to Mr Raibais, his wife and children.
“Never did I intend to cause the accident, to cause so much pain and upset. It upsets me greatly knowing that I have.
“I wake up knowing what I have done and hate myself. I wish I could change things. I know these words do nothing to help but I am truly sorry for everything.”
Nay, who worked as a driving instructor for Land Rover experience days, sat with his head bowed in the dock as sentence was passed.
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Hide AdRepresenting the family, Richard Langton, a serious injury specialist at law firm Slater and Gordon Lawyers, said: “The footage is shocking to watch, but it sends a powerful message. Road rage destroys lives.”
Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement that Nay was no longer an employee and the company was “deeply saddened” by the “terrible incident”.