A lost life that leaves a hole in a family’s heart

Content warning: Some viewers may find this video upsetting, as a mother describes the last moments of her son's life.
“It sounds really morbid that you want to hear the last gurgling breaths of your child, but it’s like you want to take ownership, you want to own every last minute of them.
“It’s your child, so no matter how bad it is, you owe it to them to listen to those last moments.”
Losing your child is the unimaginable, it’s every parents worst nightmare and unfortunately for Steph, it became her reality.
Steph’s son Etienne, who preferred to be known as Justin, was only 18 when he lost his life.
Steph and her husband had spent their Saturday like any normal day, and that evening were in bed for the night when in the early hours of Sunday 28 June 2020, they heard a knock at the door.
The knock came from one of Justin’s friends, he was very pale and explained they’d been a collision.
Justin’s car had been traveling along the A6 near Dove Holes, a notoriously bendy stretch of road.
Rushing to the scene, Steph explains in the video those first moments and how it changed the course of her life.
“I don’t like to describe him as a boy racer as it makes him sound less of a victim, but he liked his car.”
Steph explains.
Justin had been to a car meetup and was travelling home when the collision occurred. He’d been traveling at around 66mph, which was only a little over the legal limit. However, the road was wet and he had a nail in his tyre.
Justin had taken a corner too quickly and lost control of the car, he’d then tried to stop using his handbrake but couldn’t regain control, the car fell down a ravine to the side of the road.
The car landed on it’s roof onto a wall, with Justin’s head hitting it. Steph continued, “That was the moment that our lives really changed for good.
“Speeding is not worth it; you’ve got dreams and you’ve got aspirations.
“Justin has lost his aspirations, his dreams, he’s lost the opportunity to have children and a wife, a good job.”
Steph is now using her grief to educate others about the need to drive carefully and consider the conditions of the road. Speed limits are there for a reason, they’re not a target speed to maintain at every corner.
We’re urging you to talk to drivers, especially young ones, about the dangers that speeding and driving dangerously can have.
It only takes a second for your life, and your families lives, to change forever. Don’t take that risk.