A PENYGROES woman accused of causing the death of another motorist by driving carelessly lost her unborn baby and was seriously injured in the crash, a court has heard.

Laura Matthews-James, 25, was seven months pregnant when her vehicle collided head on with Robert Hitchcock's on February 26 last year.

Jim Davies, for the prosecution, said Mr Hitchcock was killed "probably instantaneously" by the impact on the B4300 near Carmarthen, South Wales, while Matthews-James was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Describing the incident as a tragedy, Mr Davies said: "In this instance there is an additional element of tragedy involved.

"The defendant was herself seriously injured and she was also seven months pregnant at the time and lost the child at the time of the incident.

"The case is a doubly emotive one."

Swansea Crown Court heard Matthews-James, of Gate Road, Penygroes, had dropped her dog off at her mother-in-law's house and was on her way to work at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen in her white Fiat 500 when at about 8.45am she was in a line of traffic, with two vehicles in front and one behind her, having just passed through the village of Llanarthney.

"The defendant decided to overtake the two cars that were in front of her, the Seat and the Golf," said Mr Davies.

"In doing so she lost control of her vehicle and collided, head on, with an oncoming car which was being driven by Mr Hitchcock.

"Mr Hitchcock had, it seemed, no time to take any avoiding action. His car, a green Citroen C3, ended up in the hedge facing back the way he had come and he was killed, probably instantaneously, by the impact."

Mr Davies said Matthews-James knew the road well and drove on it regularly, knew that it was used by farm vehicles and that there would sometimes be mud on it.

He said Matthews-James' car had been found to have strayed on to the verge and there may be a conflict in the evidence as to what caused her to lose control of the vehicle.

The court heard Matthews-James, who denies causing the death of Mr Hitchcock by driving without due care and attention, described her morning routine in interview with police.

Mr Davies said: "She said she could recall, she thought, driving through Llanarthney, but after that she had no recollection at all of what happened due to the injuries she sustained."

Aelwyn Rhys Jones, who was driving the lead car in the line of traffic, a red Seat Ibiza, was driving his wife to work at the time of the accident.

He said he had come out of the 30mph limit through the village and "increased my speed slightly to say 40mph".

Mr Jones said the stretch of road was national speed limit and that he noticed Matthew-James' car when it "roared" past him at "quite a speed".

"The vehicle passed me and then went ahead of me and turned back into the right side of the road," he said.

"I noticed as we approached the bend that the vehicle seemed to be slightly out of control.

"I would not say it skidded but it wavered ... within a very short period of time it collided with this vehicle coming in the other direction."

Ignatius Hughes QC, for the defence, asked Mr Jones if he was a "gentle driver" and he agreed.

Mr Hughes said: "When you mentioned the national speed limit you mentioned 50mph.

"The national speed limit on that road is actually 60mph."

Mr Jones agreed that Matthews-James would have been driving at between 50-55mph when she overtook.

The trial continues.