Justice for Juma

Although the car is pictured in the dark; the offence took place in daylight

Oliver Heywood of Woodgreen was convicted on the 6th of April of driving without due care and attention when he killed my pony Juma on Roger Penny Way on 7th August, 2021. He admitted, when giving evidence, that he had seen Juma when he was three car lengths from the road, but did not slow down and then said 'the pony came out of nowhere and jumped on to my bonnet and then jumped off again.' He was fined £600 and costs of £600+ and disqualified for 6 months by the District Judge. At the time, the police officer estimated that the driver was travelling well in excess of the speed limit from the length of the skid marks but was unable to say so in court due to the fact that the skid marks and the vehicle itself was not forensically examined (something that is reserved only for the death of humans). The defendant's one year old daughter was in the back of the car.

Unfortunately people will have to read between the lines to see what has happened here. Generally the police, in agreement with the Verderers of the New Forest don't prosecute drivers for speeding or driving without due care and attention when they hit, and even kill, livestock on the Forest; their view is that it puts people off reporting any collisions that they have been involved with. The Verderers would prefer that people always report so that the animal can be put down as quickly as possible, and not left to suffer. Sadly hit and runs still happen anyway. In this particular case the police officer and the Crown Prosecution Service felt that the case was so bad that it must go forward; this was on the basis of the speed at which they believe that the defendant was travelling and the fact that there was a child in the car. 

Sadly there is unlikely to be any remorse from this driver, not only did he threaten to assault me a few weeks later, and use a stream of homophobic language, but of course he has never said sorry for killing Juma.

The great thing is that this case sends a message that even at 40 miles per hour you should slow down.

Many people think he should have received a harsher sentence but for the record, I am pleased with the conviction, and satisfied with the sentence, based on what the prosecution were able to prove. He has already had twenty months - the time it took to get to trial - in which he has had to drive more carefully. If the prosecution had been able to put the evidence revealed by the skid marks before the court, I have no doubt that things would have been a lot different, but the judge can only sentence on what he has before him. I am grateful to the officer and the prosecution for doing what they could and sticking with this case even though its perceived seriousness was reduced by this technicality. The reasons for the conviction, and for the sentence, given by the District Judge were very clear, and I will endeavour to get a copy.