British tourist gets 1-year sentence, released from jail, after injuring children in crash and fleeing the country
Rockland County Judge Kevin Russo sentenced Robb Thursday to one year in jail, which he had already completed while waiting for proceedings to finish, allowing him to be released from jail.
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A British tourist who fled the country after severely injuring two children in a head-on crash in Rockland County was released from jail Friday following a sentence that prosecutors said was not enough.
"My remorse and shame has affected every part of me," Thomas Robb, 22, told the court ahead of his sentencing on 11 counts relating to a head-on crash that two children are still recovering from. "I don't feel my younger, immature self handled the situation well enough then, and for that I am truly sorry ... I pray everyday for guidance and the strength to behave differently moving forward."
In July 2022, Robb drove his BMW into oncoming traffic on Route 303 in Blauvelt, hitting Jaquelyn Pachay's Chevy Cruz head-on and sending the Cruz crashing into another vehicle.
Pachay's wrist was broken.
Her 6-year-old son had a traumatic brain injury and a fractured clavicle. Her 7-year-old son had two broken femurs.
Robb and three passengers — including Robb's twin brother Martin — ran off.
Thomas Robb was later arrested and made bail.
Prosecutors believe he then used his twin brother's passport to board a flight to London to flee the country.
Robb was eventually extradited back to the United States in February.
He pleaded guilty in March to all 11 counts, including leaving the scene of an accident and three counts of assault.
Rockland County Judge Kevin Russo sentenced Robb Thursday to one year in jail, which he had already completed while waiting for proceedings to finish, allowing him to be released from jail.
The family of the two boys — who are now 9 and 10 years old — were furious.
"Jumping bail, fleeing the scene, fleeing the country. So you don't get nothing (anything) for that?," the boys' grandmother Katherine Forte said. "You don't get nothing for that?"
"What maturity level did you bring? How? What did you do to mature?," Pachay said of Robb's statement that he has matured since the crash and the multiple attempts to flee.
District Attorney Tom Walsh was asking the court for a two-year sentence for Robb.
Walsh told News 12 afterward that considering the extent of the childrens' injuries, the sentence was "light."
