Swansea: Driver who cheated speeding points killed my son
- Published
Ben Rogers was described as a "chatterbox" who "would capture the hearts of all who met him"
The family of a 19-year-old boy who died in a car crash said their lives have been "ripped apart".
Ben Rogers, from Bonymaen in Swansea, arranged to see Top Gun: Maverick with his dad on 31 May 2022, but met his friends instead.
He told dad Lee Rogers he would phone him back and rearranged their cinema trip to the next day.
But Lee went to bed without hearing from his son, and woke up to police knocking on his door.
Ben had been in a car traveling towards Gower when the driver, 17-year-old Owain Hammett-George, lost control of the car at high speed in a 30mph zone.
The car crashed into Northway Garage, Bishopston.
Ben and 19-year-old Kaitlyn Davies, from Blaenymaes, in Swansea died at the scene.
A 17-year-old girl was taken to hospital with a brain injury and a broken neck.
Three months before the crash, Hammett-George had been caught speeding but his dad took his points, meaning he retained his licence.
If he had taken his own points, he would have had three on his licence - needing three more to be banned.
Hammett-George's dad, Dewi George, was jailed for four months for perverting the cause of justice.
Hammett-George, now 19, changed his not guilty plea to guilty on 29 February for causing the death of Ben and Kaitlyn, and causing serious injury to the 17-year-old.
He will be sentenced on 28 March.
Speaking after Hammett-George changed his plea to guilty, Ben's sister Ashleigh said: "I was just in shock, because he's pleaded not guilty all this time and showed no remorse, hearing him plea guilty was like 'oh my god'.
"But he just didn't have a choice, I still don't think he's sorry," she said. "It was a weird feeling, a bit bitter-sweet - it's just too late."
Ben's mother Carla King, 45, said his death "ruined us all and robbed us of our future with Ben" and "left a huge hole in all of our lives".
Ben's mum Carla King said: "Ben is the first thought on my mind when I wake and the last thought when I fall to sleep"
"From the moment he was born and right up until his life was taken, the twinkle in his eyes and his cheeky smile would capture the hearts of all who met him."
Ben's father Lee, 45, said: "To lose someone at such a young age - It's devastating."
He had been away on the Bonymaen RFC Canada rugby tour and had not seen Ben for 11 days.
He said his son had sent him a "beautiful message" while Lee was on tour, it said: "Love you loads mind dad can't wait to see Top Gun with you, missed you."
Despite his dad's love for rugby, Ben preferred climbing trees, swimming, surfing and bodyboarding.
Ashleigh and Lee said Ben always kept his flat "spotless"
Ashleigh, 27, said her brother was "happy and excited" and "just couldn't contain himself".
"As he grew up he became the friend you confided in," she said.
"He was sensitive and down to earth - he'd sit and listen, not like a lot of men would."
Carla said her son was "incredibly funny and witty", "liked nothing more than to make people smile" and was "known for his hugs".
"He would talk to someone who was five or 50 in the same way - there was no hierarchy, everybody was the same to him."
Ben had moved into a flat in Landore, Swansea and was in his final year of electrical engineering apprenticeship at Tycoch Gower College.
Hundreds of people gathered at Ben's funeral in June 2022.
Ben was "the best uncle" to Ashleigh's two-year-old son Matteo
At the funeral, one woman gave Lee a letter detailing how Ben would chat to her on the bus - she has dedicated part of her garden to him.
Carla said: "I have had so many messages from people who met him, sharing their fondness and stories of how he made a positive impact on their lives, I will always be so proud of him."
Ben had been booked in to go to Escape Festival in Swansea in August 2022, so Ashleigh decided to take a life-size cut-out and go in his honour.
Ashleigh said there were so many people at the festival who came up to say hello to her and Ben
"I'll never forget walking down there, standing in that queue on my own," she said.
"By the end of it he had kisses on his face, he was sticky, people put glasses on him, he was in the air."
Carla said: "He would have loved it."
Ben's mum said nothing could have prepared them for the tragedy.
"The normal cycle is your grandparents, then as you get older your parents - you prepare for that - but to get the knock on the door," she said.
When Lee opened the door to the police, he said he knew something dreadful had happened.
Ben loved their Mastiff called Hudson said Carla
Lee and his partner drove to Ashleigh's house to tell her, while police went to Carla.
When Lee told his daughter Ben had been in a fatal car crash, she said she "fell to the floor".
"I was screaming," Ashleigh said. "I kept saying just tell me what hospital he's in - I didn't have a clue what was going on."
They drove to Ben's flat in the early hours of the morning.
"Dad was shouting 'Ben, Ben', I think he thought he was going to be there," said Ashleigh.
She stood at the door while her dad rushed around the flat.
Lee said: "I was trying to get his smell, there was nothing there. I shoved my head into the wardrobe just to get his smell."
Hours after the incident, they drove to the crash site and Ashleigh remembered "being sick on the side of the road" as her dad sprinted up to the police.
"I was trying to walk to get up to see him and I'd just fallen," Ashleigh said.
Ashleigh said "he was really cwtchy after a meal, me and Ben would be leaning on each other half asleep"
Meanwhile, Carla said: "The knock on the door in the middle of the night will torment me for the rest of my life."
Carla said her seven-year-old daughter Eleri now suffers with separation anxiety.
Eleri is "petrified of leaving me and Lloyd as she is afraid we'll die and she will never see us again - like what happened with Ben".
The loss of her son "ripped" her "whole world apart" and left Carla with PTSD.
She saw Ben two days before the crash in his flat "bouncy" and "animated".
However, the last image of her son was when she had to identify his body.
"My last vision of my Ben was lying on a slab, cold as ice, unrecognisable, his smile gone," she said. "Seeing Ben like that will haunt me forever, I should never have had to see my son like that.
"He will never marry the girl he loved, travel the world, buy his first home and start a family of his own," she said.
An Instagram page called Be More Ben was set up. Carla said the page brought her "comfort" to see so many people share their memories.
"If everyone tried to be more Ben, the world would be a far better place."
"When I think of Ben I want to think of the positive things and not the court case or the driver," Carla said.
The family want to keep Ben's memory alive by organising annual fundraisers, and have placed a tribute bench on Swansea seafront.
Carla said: "I cannot comprehend how I am never going to see my son or hear his voice in person ever again, the reality is so painful it is unbearable."
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