A young drink driver killed her close friend after speeding up when she was urged to slow down. Yasmin Martin was travelling at more than twice the speed limit and was almost double the drink drive limit at the time of the horror crash.
The 19-year-old, who was 17 at the time, had decided to drive three friends home from a night out in a car she had never driven before that day. A court heard how Martin reacted with anger when Mia Marsh and another girl made pleas for her to slow down.
She lost control at a bend while travelling at more than 70mph in a 30mph zone. Martin smashed the car into a barrier and killed 17-year-old Mia, Chronicle Live reports.
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Martin had known Mia since the pair were young, Newcastle Crown Court heard. One of the passengers said Martin seemed to want to prove she could drive in a dangerous manner and that it was ‘like she was invincible, like she can do what she wants and no one else is stopping her’.
As Martin, of Aldwych Road, Sunderland, was jailed for eight years, Mia’s family attended Newcastle Crown Court wearing T-shirts showing a picture of the tragic teen. Her mum, Danielle, did not feel able to attend the hearing but a victim impact statement from her was read to the court outlining her devastating loss.
She said she feels ‘stuck in a nightmare I can’t wake up from’, adding: “The pain we, as a family, are going through is unimaginable.” She said they sometimes imagine Mia is just out ‘but then reality kicks in at a million miles an hour’.
Danielle said: “We want her here and now. We don’t want her as a memory. We still think one day she will come bouncing back through the door singing and being cheerful like she was.
“We miss Mia an unbelievable amount, our hearts are forever broken. Mia was only 17 when she was tragically taken from us. She had her whole life to look forward to. You never know how if feels to lose a child or a sister until it happens to you.”
She added: “Due to her injuries no one was allowed to identify her and she had to have a closed coffin. This made me doubt if it was really Mia and if it was a horrible mistake… We will love Mia unconditionally until we meet again baby girl. Love you so much my Mia.”
Martin, who had passed her driving test in May 2022, was driving a Vauxhall Astra which her dad had hired that day. She had no experience of driving it before that evening, Friday December 2 2022, and was not insured to do so.
Martin, who regarded Mia, who she had known since nursery, as her closest friend at the time, picked up her and two other friends and they went drinking in six bars in Sunderland, where they all consumed pints of Strongbow dark fruits, Jagerbombs and vodka and Red Bulls.
An employee at one of the bars, when told by Martin her car was parked nearby, said ‘well I hope you’re not driving’ because it was obvious to him she was in no fit state to drive due to her intoxication. She said she was not driving and ordered a drink.
At 12.47am, Martin walked towards the car but was prevented from getting in the driver’s seat and told to get in the back. Mia drove the car away. After stopping for fuel, Martin took over driving after becoming ‘fussy’ over the fact Mia was driving.
The two other girls said Martin was driving too fast. None of them were wearing seatbelts and one of the girls told the others to put them on due to the manner of Martin’s driving.
Mia and one of the other girls shouted at Martin to slow down but she ignored those requests and instead increased her speed, seeming to become angry at being told to slow down. One of the girls said she accelerated and appeared to have the attitude that she could ‘prove she could drive like this’ and ‘like she didn’t care’, ‘like she was invincible, like she can do what she wants and no one else is stopping her’.
The collision occurred as she headed west on the A1231 between the Spire Bridge and the Queen Alexander Bridge. She failed to negotiate a sweeping left hand bend, the car understeering and crossing onto the wrong side of the road and smashing into a crash barrier, rebounding and ending up 180 metres down the road.
Mia’s family asked for CCTV of the collision to be played in court, which it was. A picture of the state of the car afterwards was also shown. Mia died as a result of a significant head injured caused when the car hit the crash barrier.
CCTV showed the Astra was doing between 64 and 67mph when 500 metres from the collision and between 75mph and 80mph as it left the west-bound carriageway and crossed the central reservation. The speed limit was 30mph.
Investigations showed the crash was caused by the excessive speed the car was being driven at by Martin while under the influence of alcohol. She was almost twice the drink drive limit.
After her arrest, she claimed an ‘old man’ had spiked her drink but a trawl of CCTV at the bars where she had been proved this to be a lie. Martin pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years, of which she must serve two-thirds in custody. She will be banned from driving for five years after she is released from prison.
Judge Christopher Prince said Martin had told the author of a pre-sentence report the other girls got into the car knowing she had been drinking. But he said: “They didn’t know you were going to drive in the manner you did. They expected you to take care of them.”
Matthew Bean, defending, said: “Yasmin Martin accepts full responsibility for what happened that day. Mia Marsh was, at the time, her closest friend and she will have to live with the fact she caused her death.
“There is genuine remorse for what she has done. She regrets her decision and will have to live with her decision for the rest of her life and the fact she has caused suffering and pain to Mia’s family.”
Mr Bean said Martin has an 11-month-old daughter, for whom she has been to sole carer and who will now be cared for by her grandmother while Martin is in prison. He added: “She wishes she could turn back the clock and make good the wrong she caused.”
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