Following sentencing, Rhys’ wife Caroline Jenkins, also known as Carrie, said in a statement she often wondered what difference it would have made to her family’s future “if we’d hugged a little tighter and a little longer” when she waved them off that day.
She said, for her son, life “without a dad who was involved in everything you did is a hard adjustment” and it “carried an element of PTSD”.
Carrie said Ioan was emotionally and physically scarred by the crash.
“It’s impossible to convey the full impact Rhys’ death had on us,” she said, and there remains a “massive hole left in our lives by his unnecessary death”.
Ioan, who broke both arms, and suffered a fractured rib and perforated bowel, said he wished his dad was still here to “watch me grow up and be my dad”.
Rhys’ youngest son, Gruff, was six when the crash happened.
In his own victim impact statement, he said he was in bed when police arrived to tell his mum what had happened.
After being told his dad had died, he said: “I ran out of the house. I didn’t know where I was going. It was the worst feeling of my life.”
The court was told Umar Ben Yusaf’s car was not directly involved in the crash, but the “competitive” nature of his driving with Abubakr Ben Yusaf contributed significantly.
Sgt Sara John, from Dyfed-Powys Police’s serious collision investigation unit, said: “The sentences passed today cannot undo the tragic loss suffered by Rhys’s family.”
She added she hoped the outcome “provides them with some closure as they begin to move forward with their lives, which have been changed forever”.
“The actions of Abubakr and Umar Yusaf on that day were catastrophic. Their choice to drive in the manner they did shows their utter disregard towards other road users.”
