A PENSIONER who left a pedestrian with catastrophic injuries after her car hit him on a Dartmoor road has been told she should never drive again. Retired vet Evelyn Cass, aged 87, failed to see Christopher Park as he walked along the side of the A382 near Chagford looking for a hub cap that had fallen off his car. She failed to see him even though he was in sight for four seconds and did not even know she had hit a person when she felt a bump from the collision.

She thought she had hit a horse but when she stopped and went back to look, she found to her horror that it was a pedestrian.

Architect Mr Park, aged 65, who had been a keen amateur tango dancer, suffered serious head injuries which led to him spending 18 months in hospital or residential rehabilitation.

He needs 24-hour care at his home in Chagford and still needs to use a wheelchair. He has double vision and issues with basic skills and memory.

His partner read his victim statement to Exeter Crown Court in which he said he had lost the life which he had known and loved and that the only way he will ever dance again is in a hydro physio pool.

He said: ‘All the essence and the things that make me what I am and all the things I previously enjoyed are gone. I have lost my co-ordination, my freedom of movement, and my dignity.’

Cass, of of Broadpark, Okehampton, admitted careless driving after a more serious charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving was dropped.

She was fined £250 and banned from driving for three years by Judge Peter Johnson. She has already surrendered her licence.

He told her: ‘For some reason, you drove into Mr Park. The word catastrophic is often over-used in society today, but the injuries you caused him were truly catastrophic and will affect his life materially for the foreseeable future.

‘This is a very serious case of careless driving. It is imperative you do not drive again.’

The judge explained that the level of fine is set by law and is calculated as a percentage of a defendant’s income.

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said the accident happened at 1.45 pm on April 12, 2019 after Mr Park had stopped in a layby at Sandygate, near Chagford, and got out of his car to look for a hubcap that had fallen off.

Cass was rounding a left-hand corner at between 30 and 35 mph and failed to see him although he would have been clearly visible for up to 4.6 seconds.

She later told other motorists and the police that she thought she had hit an animal when she felt the bump and was horrified when she discovered the injured man.

Mr Ian Graham, defending, said: ‘What Mrs Cass most sincerely would like to say to Mr Park and his family is that she deeply regrets and is deeply remorseful for what has happened.’

He said she devoted her life to helping others by working as a teacher, a carer and a vet, but is now widowed and living on a small pension.