A MUM and dad spoke of their heartbreak as the woman who killed their daughter was to be sentenced.

Jacqueline Mwila, of White Street, Mount Pleasant in Swansea, appeared before Caernarfon Crown Court (sitting at Llandudno Magistrates Court) on Friday morning for sentence.

The 51-year-old was jailed for seven years and four months for causing the death of 28-year-old Emma Louise Morris by dangerous driving, as well as for two offences of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

In what was described to the court as a 'wholly avoidable' incident, Mwila moved over the double white lines on the A487 at Felinheli and collided with Ms Morris, who was carrying her partner James Walsh and her young son in the vehicle.

Ms Morris was pronounced dead at the scene, with her son and Mr Walsh sustaining serious injuries and requiring hospital treatment.

During the sentencing hearing, Mr Rogers read several moving statements from the victim's family.

Stephen Morris, father of Emma Morris, said: "My beautiful daughter has been brutally taken away from me.

"The savage force of how she was killed will be ingrained in my heart forever.

"She didn't have a chance; she was massacred. There wasn't a bone unbroken in her body.

"The pain of losing your only child cuts like a knife. Every day and night I talk to Emma, but no one answers. It is a living nightmare.

"She was a radiant young woman and proud mum of two young boys.

"I can't forgive or forget what happened... the utter carnage on that road on April 3, 2023, only a week after her 28th birthday.

"My Emma never deserved what happened."

Julie Morris, the victim's mother, said: "April 3, 2023, is when my life completely changed; having the knock every parent dreads with two police officers telling me my beloved daughter had been killed.

"Emma was my only child. She was my rock and my supporter.

"She was the kindest of souls and an amazing mum, friend, daughter, granddaughter and partner.

"She loved the sea and spending time on the beach, paddleboarding.

"And she would sit and play with her boys for hours; they were her whole world."

James Walsh said: "Emma was my life; we had so much planned and she was the only person I'd want that life with.

"There's no way of getting that back.

"This was all taken in an instant. I'm lost without her.

"I feel heartbroken. Emma will forever be loved by everyone close to her."

Prior to handing down Mwila's sentence, Judge Timothy Petts spoke to the victim's family and friends.

He said: "We have heard your moving words in your statements. Thank you for writing them.

"I know it will have been difficult to do that and it will have been difficult for you to come here today.

"Nothing I or anyone else says today will provide comfort for your unimaginable grief.

"For Emma to be killed in such a senseless accident is horrendous to think about.

"I want you to know Emma and you have been at the centre of our thoughts; you have our deepest sympathy.

"The law doesn't allow or ask me to try and balance Emma's life or death through the length of a prison sentence.

"Even the longest sentence I could impose would never make things better, or come close to providing recompense.

"I pay tribute to the members of the public who dealt as best as they could with the situation they found, and the emergency services.

"It must have been a heart-breaking situation, for all of them."

Following the sentencing, Investigating Officer PC Gareth Rogers of the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit said: “While Mwila is now behind bars for this offence, nothing is going to bring Emma back, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with her family and friends, who have suffered unimaginable devastation.

“There is no sentence that can ever replace the hole that has been left in their lives, but we hope the passing of this sentence will act as a reminder to all drivers that momentary decisions to lose concentration can have devastating consequences.”

And in a statement issued after the hearing, Emma Morris’ family said: "It has been a long, torturous and painful journey to finally get to this point today.

“There is no real justice for Emma.

“Jaqueline Mwila caused her death by dangerous driving, and although she pleaded guilty to all the charges against her, the sentence she was given does not go nearly far enough for us as a family.

“Our lives have been changed forever, shattered, mutilated by the recklessness and carelessness of this woman who chose to drive so dangerously as to kill our daughter without any regard for other road users that day.

“We will try to move forward without our beautiful Emma. A future her two children have to face without their loving mother. Our pain is constant, our hearts remain broken.”