11:50am Thursday 24th December 2009
By Sarah Hilley
A GRANDMOTHER is dreading the day she has to tell her son’s children there was no justice for their dead father.
Gary Lane’s family are devastated after the man who caused his death through careless driving in Swindon was freed from jail less than a month after being sentenced.
Prakash Samatbhai Odedara, 29, was jailed for four months on November 30 after pleading guilty to causing the crash in Stratton, which robbed Gary’s family of him.
But the Criminal Appeal Court has overturned the decision and ordered Odedara to complete 100 hours of unpaid work instead.
Gary’s family have told his children Shayla, six, and Kai, three, that their dad is now “a star in the sky”, but grandmother Anita, 57, fears the day when they are told the whole truth. She said: “Every time the children come, I have to explain where daddy is.
“It is the hardest thing we have to do. They miss their daddy – he is not going to be there for them. Daddy wasn’t there for a nativity play – it was me instead.
“I thought at least we can tell them eventually that we saw some justice for him.
“Now we feel like we have been robbed. The little bit of justice we had is gone.
“We accepted the sentence the judge gave in November. But this is a disgrace to my son’s memory. We were okay with a four-month sentence. Why did he not take it on the chin and serve the sentence like a man?
“We feel raped by the justice system. We have always told our children and grandchildren to stick by the law - but this is disgraceful.”
Now the family are just left with memories, and his sisters Sarah, 31, Joanne, 28, and Christine, 22, miss their brother’s jokes.
Anita, of Hyde Road, said: “He had the girls running around after him ever since he was a baby. When he was tiny, he didn’t even have to cry – they got him everything.”
Sarah said: “He would fill a room with energy.”
She cannot understand why Odedara was allowed to drive without a full British driving licence on the day of her brother’s death. On October 2 last year, Odedara, of Sherwood Road, was making pizza deliveries for Chicago Jo’s Pizzas when his Smart car hit 23-year-old Gary’s Aprilia motorbike in Ermin Street.
Swindon Crown Court heard in November that Odedara only had a British provisional and Indian licence at the time of the collision. The family are to raise the issue with road safety charities Brake and Roadpeace.
Sarah said: “I think the law needs to be changed – how can you be employed as a driver on an international licence?”
Anita said the family are still haunted by what happened, particularly as the collision spot near their home is a constant reminder.
She said: “It wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t live on the same road where he was killed.
“My husband was born here – it is a nightmare. I am thinking we need to be away from here and that is really sad.”
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