A nurse who had taken a large dose of a strong painkiller that she had bought in Mexico has been jailed for five years and four months after causing the death of a man in a head-on car crash in south Wales.
Cerys Price, 28, had taken enough tramadol to cause herself to have a seizure before her pick-up truck veered on to the wrong side of the road and into the path of a vehicle driven by Robert Dean, 65.
Judge Michael Fitton told her: “This was a seizure induced by tramadol. You have destroyed your good name, you have destroyed your current career.”
Cardiff crown court was told that Price and her then boyfriend, Jack Tinklin, set off for a camping trip but had argued, and Price had turned the car around to go home.
Giving evidence, Tinklin said: “Just after the roundabout, she just had a seizure. Cerys made a funny noise and was slumped over the steering wheel. The car drifted off the road, through the central reservation.”
When police searched Price’s pick-up, they found a tub of tramadol – with just 26 of the 100 tablets left.
The court heard the drug is prescription-only in the UK and Price had picked up the pills while on holiday in Mexico.
Timothy Evans, prosecuting, said: “Price had consumed an amount of tramadol significantly higher than any therapeutic range. She was in no way fit to drive a car. She was in a drugged-up state.
“Price was a graduate-level nurse – she is an intelligent woman – and should have known how dangerous it was for her to drive in that state.
“A completely innocent man, simply minding his own business driving along the opposite side of the road, lost his life.”
Price, from Nantyglo, south Wales, denied causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to Tinklin by dangerous driving but was found guilty.
She told the court: “I felt normal while driving and in good spirits. I can remember coming up to a small roundabout in the right hand lane and driving on to the dual carriageway and that’s it.
“The next thing I remember is looking forward and seeing green leaves in front of the windscreen, I thought I was in a petrol station. I believe it was an epileptic seizure.”
CPS Cymru-Wales said the concentration of tramadol in Price’s system could have been lethal to her or have caused seizures.
Kelly Huggins of the CPS said: “Being a qualified nurse, Cerys Price should have known the dangers of driving after taking these tablets but she drove nevertheless.
“Her actions resulted in tragic consequences for an innocent motorist, her passenger and herself. Our thoughts are with Mr Dean’s family and friends at this difficult time.”
The accident took place on the A467 in Newport on 15 July 2016.
