An intoxicated driver who's been described as the 'drunkest driver' a police officer has ever seen mounted the kerb and killed a 'lovely' 20-year-old student. Shocking footage shows the moment Malcolm Waite, 68 was pulled over by police in a Lexus RX SUV after he ran over and killed Fenella Hawes who was delivering a bouquet of sunflowers to her mum.
In the clip, he can be seen slurring his words, refusing to take a breathalyser test and also accusing the officer of calling him a t**t, the Manchester Evening News reports. The drink driver was given an eight year prison sentence at Norwich Crown Court on November 18 for taking Fenella's life.
PC Callum Walchester told the court : “I’ve been a PC for 10 years and worked in roads policing for almost six years, and he was the drunkest person I have ever seen behind the wheel of a car.'' Officers revealed a teenage girl who was also knocked down by Waite during the incident has been left 'traumatised' by the incident and said Waite had caused 'so much pain to so many people'.
The court heard that on July 31 at around 4:30pm Waite had been driving a Lexus RX SUV along the A419 Wayford Road between B1159 Junction and Chapel Field Road when he mounted the kerb and hit two pedestrians. The two victims were a teenage girl and 20-year-old Fenella who was killed.
The court heard how Waite did not stop his car after hitting the two females and kept driving along the A419 for another mile. He finally stopped after his car crashed into a road sign, trees and shrubbery on the side of the road just before the junction at the A419 and Old Market Road.
Officers arrived at the scene of the second crash and found Waite in the drivers seat who smelled strongly of alcohol. The 68-year-old man refused to do a breathalyser and was arrested before being taken to the James Paget hospital for testing.
Approximately four hours after driving into Fenella and the teenage girl, it was discovered while he was in custody at Great Yarmouth Police Investigation Centre that he had 120 micrograms of alcohol in his breath. Officers calculated that this would have been around 158 micrograms if taken at the time of the crash with the legal limit being 35 micrograms per ml.
The police investigation also found that the vehicle Waite was driving was not faulty and that the weather and road conditions had not imposed any risk of an accident. During police interviews, he refused to answer any question, as he replied no comment to all of them.
In her victim personal statement, Fenella’s heartbroken mother Margaret said: “Every day I sob, when I wake up, throughout the day at random times with seemingly no reason and when I go to bed at night. I picture her walking along, so happy carrying sunflowers for me and then being hit by the car.
"I sob because I will never see Fenella again, I will never see her radiant smile or hear her laugh, I will never talk with her about her day or about her plans for the future, I will never help cheer her up when she is sad or gossip with her, I will never go on long walks with her again…
"I will never be able to sit with her in front of our fire…it will never be the same again. I sob for the future that she doesn't have because a drunken man chose to get into a car, knowing that this was a weapon that could kill someone, and indeed it did it killed my 20-year-old daughter.
"She was a young adult beginning her life and her bright future was taken out in a few seconds because of someone who did not think or did not care. I sob because she was so happy: she was so lovely inside and out she was so alive and now she isn't here, and never will be again.
"I never had a chance to say goodbye.” Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector David McCormack, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This is a tragedy, and it was wholly avoidable.
"I implore anyone who thinks it is okay to have a drink and then drive, please remember the heart-breaking and devastating consequences of drink-driving so evident in this case. Waite’s decision to drink and drive has changed lives forever.
“The teenage girl who, together with Fenella, was just walking home from work that day is traumatised by what has happened. Waite will have to live the rest of his life in the knowledge he has taken the life of a remarkable young woman who had so much to offer and lots she wanted to achieve. He has caused so much pain to so many people.”
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