"I'm in constant pain, day and night. This almost feels like a death sentence," the police officer told the court.
A drunk diversity representative who seriously injured a former RAF medic and police officer by dragging him along a Liverpool road with her Range Rover has avoided prison.
Candace Desilva, 37, of Anfield, Liverpool, was more than twice the legal limit when she attempted to flee a traffic stop, leaving PC Simon Ward clinging to the side of her vehicle as she drove away, per the Daily Mail. The mother-of-four had been stopped after she was seen using her mobile phone while driving and performing an illegal U-turn in Liverpool city centre at around 4.15pm on September 14, 2024. A roadside breath test found she had 90 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath, nearly three times the legal limit of 35 micrograms.
The officer, a former RAF medic who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, requested a female officer attend the scene so Desilva could be searched. When told that no female officer was available, Desilva became angry. "See, there is nobody else coming. You're not f***ing searching me. I'm going. You can't stop me," she said. She then started the engine and attempted to drive away. PC Ward tried to remove the keys and grabbed the steering wheel, while also attempting to protect a nearby mother with a pram. But Desilva drove off, leaving the officer clinging to the side of the Range Rover.
As the vehicle moved, she repeatedly struck at PC Ward in an attempt to dislodge him, causing lacerations to his fingers and hand. The officer activated his panic button and deployed pepper spray, but Desilva's passenger reportedly told her to put the vehicle into "sport mode". PC Ward deployed the spray again, this time against the passenger, before the vehicle eventually came to a stop. Desilva was then arrested, but continued to resist officers.
When told she was being arrested for assaulting an emergency worker, she protested: "I just wanna go home to my children. I haven't touched you. I've done nothing." She later threw herself to the floor while being detained, causing a pair of handcuffs to scrape down a second officer's forearm. PC Ward has been left with serious and potentially permanent injuries.
He still uses a crutch and wears a knee brace because of damage to his leg and has suffered symptoms of PTSD. He was unable to work for 19 months and has only been able to return to a desk-based role. In a statement read to Liverpool Crown Court, PC Ward said he had become "a vulnerable shell of a man" and had registered as disabled. "I fought for this country and its values," he said, describing his nine years serving as an RAF medic before joining the NHS and later Merseyside Police. "It's hard to accept I'm now a victim of a crime, a crime that's changed every aspect of my life... I'm in constant pain, day and night. This almost feels like a death sentence."
Desilva, an accounts officer and lead diversity, inclusion and belonging representative at the Royal College of Physicians, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and assaulting an emergency worker. She was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to 28 months in prison, suspended for two years. She was also ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work and undertake rehabilitation activity for up to 15 days. Judge Garrett Byrne described her dragging PC Ward along the road as "absolutely appalling" and warned that she could have killed him. "Your reckless actions did not just cause serious and permanent injuries to a public servant... but you could have killed him. This is a very, very serious matter indeed."
Desilva was also banned from driving for three years, and had previously been fined by magistrates for drink-driving and using a mobile phone while driving. Her defense claimed she had PTSD and other mental health difficulties, and that her partner was unemployed, and that she had joined AA and NHS therapy after the incident. The sentencing means Desilva will remain out of prison despite the judge finding that her actions caused "very serious and lifelong injuries" to a police officer who had been trying to stop her from driving while drunk.
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