A drink-driver who downed a cocktail of lager and tequila before crashing head-first into a mini-cab at 50 mph – injuring all three occupants and fleeing the scene – has dodged prison with a suspended sentence.
Electrical and heating contractor Anthony Banton, 41, of Laleham Road, Catford was still double the limit six hours after his last drink and was so drunk the pub landlord refused to serve him.
The mini-cab driver was hospitalised for nine days, the front-seat passenger received bruising and the rear-seat passenger had to be put into a drug-induced coma and cut from the wreckage and suffered multiple fractures plus swelling and bubbling blood to the brain.
Father-of-three Banton pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol in his breath in Croydon Road, Beckenham on May 22.
Prosecutor Miss Shekinah Anson told Croydon Crown Court (pictured) it was 1am when Banton, who had been drinking at a works leaving do in Ewell, crashed his company’s VW van into the Toyota Avantis cab.
He was on the wrong side of the road as he collided with the vehicle outside Beckenham Beacon Hospital and fled the scene on foot.
“All three occupants required medical attention at the scene and in hospital,” explained Miss Anson.
Mini-cab driver Miah Akthar, 43, suffered a broken right ankle and left wrist and front-seat passenger Simon Melaniphy, 28, bruising to his elbow and knees.
Rear-seat passenger Edward Cross, 29, suffered six fractured ribs, a fractured eye socket, a hairline fracture to his sinus bone and a cut to the back of his head.
Due to the brain trauma he suffered there is an ongoing risk of epileptic seizures and he must keep regular appointments with a neurosurgeon.
Banton stopped drinking at 8.30pm, but convinced himself he was fit to drive after waking up in the pub garden after midnight.
“The landlord had refused to serve him anymore because he was so drunk,” added the prosecutor, who explained paperwork in the abandoned van led police to the defendant’s home address.
They found him sleeping in his car parked in the driveway and when breath-tested he was double the limit.
Banton’s common-law wife spun a web of lies to police – providing him with a false alibi – but he confessed the following day and she received a caution.
The defendant suspects he either blacked-out or fell asleep at the wheel while negotiating a bend and ended up on the wrong side of the road.
Judge John Tanzer told Banton: “You are a man effectively of impeccable character. You have made something of your life and done your best for your partner and three children.
“Having not remained at the scene of this appalling crash you went back to police the next day and admitted full responsibility for what you had done.
“The lives of the victims have to a degree been physically impacted and what has happened has come close to destroying your life because as well as losing your job you have not been allowed to drive and are looking at losing your livelihood.
“If I send you to prison you will probably come out to a family in disarray and possibly without a home,” added the Judge. “You are fundamentally a decent and honest person.”
Banton was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, ordered to complete 200 hours community service and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
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