A young dance teacher has been handed a suspended prison sentence after a prank involving friends riding in the boot of her car ended in tragedy, leaving an 18-year-old woman with a catastrophic brain injury.
Evie Robinson, 20, appeared before Nottingham Crown Court after admitting to causing serious injury through dangerous driving following the incident in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in August last year.
The court heard that Robinson was driving her Audi A1 across a car park when two friends climbed into the vehicle’s boot as part of what was described as a prank. Moments later, she accelerated, causing both young women to be thrown from the moving car.
One of the women landed on her backside and suffered minor injuries. However, the 18-year-old victim fell face-first onto the ground and sustained devastating head injuries.
Emergency services rushed the teenager to hospital, where doctors discovered a serious brain bleed. She was later placed in an induced coma for six weeks as medical teams fought to save her life.
Prosecutors told the court that the group had been socialising before the incident, and the victim had earlier been involved in other risky behaviour, including sitting on the roof of a moving vehicle. The judge said these actions ultimately set the stage for a prank that ended in disaster.
In an emotional victim impact statement, the teenager’s mother said the crash had robbed her daughter of her future. Once described as energetic and ambitious, the aspiring veterinary student now suffers from seizures, mood changes and significant long-term health complications.
The mother told the court her daughter had lost her independence, dignity and the career she had worked so hard to pursue. She said the injuries had fundamentally changed her daughter’s life and future prospects.
Defence lawyers said Robinson had shown genuine remorse and had been consumed by guilt since the incident. Character references submitted to the court described the young woman as responsible and caring, with no intention of causing harm.
Sentencing Robinson, Judge Robert Egbuna acknowledged that neither she nor her friends had anticipated the tragic outcome of their actions. He imposed a two-year suspended prison sentence, alongside 150 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation sessions.
The case serves as a stark reminder of how seemingly harmless stunts and social media-style pranks can have devastating and irreversible consequences.
