Security worker, 20, ’caused a mother-of-two’s death’

A security worker is accused of causing a mother-of-two’s death after his friend ploughed into her car as they raced one another at 70mph.

Jenna Miller, 30, was pulling out of a petrol station when she was hit by an Audi A5 driven by Jamie Oaten, 24, as he tore along a road in Barry, South Wales.

Oaten and friend Joseph Fettah, 20, staged an ‘impromptu race’ moments before the horror crash, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

But while Oaten has admitted causing death by dangerous driving,  Fettah, from Rhoose, near Barry, denies the charge.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe told jurors that he also must take responsibility.

Mr Cobbe told the court: ‘Jamie Oaten is not solely responsible for the collision.

‘He was driving at excessive speed because he got himself involved in an impromptu race with Joseph Fettah.

‘The race started at traffic lights less than 500 metres from the point of the collision, having stopped at the lights, Fettah was in the next car behind Oaten.

‘When the lights turned from red to green they both took off leaving cars behind them well behind.

‘It was one young man encouraging another young man to drive faster and faster, accelerating hard with their focus on each other and the race, and not on other road users.

‘That impromptu race led to the collision and the death of Mrs Miller.’

Jamie Oaten (left) and his friend Joseph Fettah (right), 20, staged an ‘impromptu race’ moments before the horror crash, Cardiff Crown Court was told

The court heard how the pair drove ‘faster and faster’ before Oaten’s car went head on into the side of Mrs Miller’s Mazda 6, in September last year.

The mother of two boys, aged seven and 10, she was cut from her car and taken to hospital but did not recover from her injuries.

Mr Cobbe said that Mrs Miller was about to take a right turning out of the garage when Oaten careered into her.

He said: ‘Jamie Oaten was driving an Audi A5 towards the garage at the time, in the lane that needed crossing.

Fettah (left on holiday and right, outside Cardiff Crown Court) denies causing death by dangerous driving, but Oaten has pleaded guilty to the charge

‘He was driving at excessive speed for the road, he was driving dangerously.

‘He failed to see Mrs Miller in time, he failed to stop and skidded his car and crashed into the side of Mrs Miller’s car.

‘She later died as a result of the injuries she sustained in that collision.

‘Both men share responsibility for her death.’

 Mr Cobbe added that following Oaten colliding into Mrs Miller’s car, Fettah was able to stop his VW Golf and park it a short distance away before walking back to investigate.

He also said a collision expert’s judgement was that both cars were accelerating at ‘maximum capacity’, before the crash. 

The trial continues