A footballer's brother-in-law has admitted crashing the player's brand new £250,000 car moments after it was delivered. Aston Villa player Lewis Grabban had arranged for Michael O'Donnell to receive the grey Ferrari at his home. But O'Donnell and a friend took the supercar for a spin, crashing into a tree and causing £93,000 of damage. The pair admitted aggravated vehicle taking and were given 12-month driving bans and community orders.
St Albans Crown Court heard the striker, who played for Championship side Reading at the time, had left O'Donnell to "take receipt" of the Ferrari 488 GTB last April. When it arrived, he and his friend Gokan Kiziloz, who admitted the same charges, posed for photos with it and started the engine before deciding to take it out on the road. Kiziloz drove the car along Vineyards Road in Potters Bar before they headed back towards Mr Grabban's home.
Prosecutor Peter Shaw said he "put his foot down slightly and lost control" before coming off the road and hitting a tree. The pair, both 26, are then said to have climbed out of the wreckage "dazed and shocked".
Kiziloz, of Bulmer Road, Edmonton, and O'Donnell, of Barfield Avenue, Barnet in Hertfordshire, both pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking and Kiziloz also admitted driving with no insurance. Passing sentence, Recorder Leslie Cuthbert said the men had been "foolish," and told them they had not "stopped to think of the consequences".
Both were given a 12-month community order and disqualified from driving for a year.
O'Donnell was ordered to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and Kiziloz was told he must perform 24 hours of unpaid work.
The car was shipped back to the Ferrari factory in Italy for repairs.
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