The court heard the white Volkswagen Tiguan had been involved in an accident in Scotland in 2021 before being salvaged and then sold at auction to Joel Lia, a friend of Rafel Jeanne, who was driving on the night of the fatal crash.
The car failed an MOT carried out on 9 February 2023 with the warning system light on – indicating a fault with the seatbelt, air bag or both and the mileage recorded at about 98,000.
Alexander Lewis, the son of the defendant, carried out various repairs on the car but nothing on the warning system as this was something the garage was not able to do.
Lewis, of Llewellyn Avenue, Cardiff, retested the car on 23 February 2023, who told police in interview when he did so “the seatbelt and warning light were now off and the rear seatbelt was now working” so he “passed it with some advisories” and it was collected by Jeanne.