Daughter killed in crash 'taught me what love is'

The mother of a teenage girl who died in a crash has said her daughter taught her "what love is" as she waits for the driver to be sentenced.

Alisha Marie Ponter, 16, from Folkestone, died in a crash on the A249 near Sittingbourne in February 2024. She was a passenger in a car that hit a road barrier and overturned.

Linchem Connors, 19, from Horley, Surrey, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Maidstone Crown Court on 17 July and is due to be sentenced on 15 September.

Alisha's mother, Cody Marie Hobman, said her daughter knew the other passenger in the vehicle but did not know Connors, and has urged other girls "not to be so trusting".

Cody, who was 15 when she got pregnant with Alisha, said: "She taught me everything, how to be a mum, everything, what love is.

"She was not only my daughter, she was my best friend."

She described Alisha as "bold, sassy, beautiful" and said the teenager had hoped to work in hair and beauty.

"She lit up a room and was the life and soul," Cody said.

Cody said she hoped that by speaking publicly it would encourage other young people to be more cautious.

"If I can only save one life, I want other young girls not to be so trusting," she said.

"Just because you know the passenger, you don't know the driver.

"My daughter was very trusting. Just make sure you know them."

As the family waits for sentencing, Cody said: "I'm at the stage where no sentence will ever be enough.

"Even if he got life, it doesn't bring my daughter home."

Cody said her world "stopped" in 2024, and she would never stop grieving for her daughter.

The crash had a profound impact on Alisha's six siblings, she said.

"She was the best big sister. They were all close."

She said: "This is our life now, all because of one boy's reckless actions. He took Alisha's life and so many other lives, because Alisha was loved so much by so many."

The grieving mother said she did not want her daughter to be forgotten.

"She was my little firecracker," she said. "I can still hear her now, as bold as brass, coming through the door. She used to call me mother, I can hear her now.

"She was everything. She was absolutely everything."

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