The family of an “outstanding” young man who was killed when a teenager drove his motorbike on the wrong side of the road and crashed into him say his death was “like a nuclear bomb going off”.

Johb Treeby, 19, was described as the “brightest star in the sky” by his devastated mum Jill Good after the motorcyclist was sentenced on Tuesday.

Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court, Scott Chapman, of Phoenix Road in Chatham, was jailed for riding an unsafe £5,000 Husqvarna TC250 off-road motorcycle directly into his victim on October 22, 2021, on an industrial estate in Revenge Road, Lordswood.

Mr Treeby, who lived in Rochester with his family and previously went to school at King’s, Holcombe Grammar and Wouldham, suffered serious leg injuries and catastrophic blood loss at the scene of the crash.

Ms Good rushed to the scene and spent some of her son’s last moments awake with him.

“You can either run away or kneel down by your boy’s head and support him,” she explained.

“No mum should see that, but you have to get over it so you can be with them. I was with him since the beginning so I wanted to be with him at the end.”

Mr Treeby, who has three brothers and a sister, was taken to hospital and declared brain dead two days later. Despite this, his heart was still pumping, with one doctor telling his distraught family he had “the heart of a lion”.

He died 12 days after the crash on November 3.

Chapman, who was 16 at the time of the crash but appeared in court as a 19-year-old, was due to be sentenced last week but suffered a panic attack and the hearing had to be adjourned.

Supported by his mum and two other family members, Chapman heard how the motorbike he was riding was “in poor mechanical condition” and didn’t have a properly working headlight or rear brake.

Witnesses at the scene described seeing Chapman riding on the wrong side of the road at “around 42mph to 52mph,” before he collided head-on with Mr Treeby.

The court heard how an accident investigator concluded Chapman would have had enough time to avoid a collision due to seeing Mr Treeby’s headlights in the distance seconds before impact. They added there were no signs of brake marks on the road.

Chapman’s defence counsel, Ian Dear, explained how the defendant suffered with survivor’s guilt and was allegedly left with such trauma from the incident that he couldn’t remember anything from it.

The defendant was unlicensed and uninsured at the time of the crash, something Judge Philip Statman said was an aggravating factor. There were also traces of cannabis in his system.

Speaking about the lead-up to the incident, the judge added: “What happened may never be fully understood. He may have been showing off. We know at least one wheelie was performed.”

Judge Statman said video showed Chapman on the wrong side of the carriageway with no brake light visible and that the defendant wasn’t wearing a helmet, unlike Mr Treeby who was.

“It would have been possible for you to take avoidable action because you would have been aware of Mr Treeby’s headlight,” he continued.

The court heard how dozens of family and friends of Mr Treeby read impact statements about their loss, with Judge Statman saying it was clear he was an “outstanding young person of the community” who was “loved and cherished”.

His father John Treeby said he would “never recover” from the devastating incident, while his mum said she had been “obliterated” by her boy’s death and the “agony” of waiting.

Speaking to KentOnline about her son, Ms Good said: “I’m really proud of Johb, he was a good person.

“Within a blink of an eye, it was like a nuclear bomb went off in our family. My heart goes out to anyone who has lost a loved one suddenly. The world is never the same again to you.

“It’s my worst fear and I’ll never get over it. I think of him every day and every night before I go to sleep.

“Scott Chapman can do his time, come home and life will go on but our lives never will. It will never be the same.”

The heartbroken mum added: “He was a good boy. He never did anything wrong. He kept his head down and stayed out of trouble, but that night it found him.”

Judge Statman explained the law had changed since the offence took place but he would sentence Chapman based on the sentencing powers at the time, which carried a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.

If the offence had taken place today, Chapman would have faced life imprisonment.

The judge went on to explain that had the defendant committed the offence as an adult, he would have been handed a nine-year sentence.

However, due to his age at the time, this was halved to four-and-a-half years. A 25% reduction was also taken off the sentence due to an early guilty plea and “previous good character”.

As a result, Chapman was sentenced to three years and four months at a young offender’s institute.

He was also given a six-year and two-month driving disqualification.

Some of Mr Treeby’s family left halfway through the sentencing, with one woman shouting: “You’ve got off lightly. Pathetic the lot of you.”

Describing the sentencing as a “kick in the teeth,” Mr Treeby’s mum said the family have appealed the sentencing.

“I’m grateful we got to court as some people never get that, but it was below what we expected,” she explained.

“The judge was compassionate to Scott. He could see Scott but he couldn’t see Johb or what happened to him. I felt like he let Johb down.

“He didn't take into account Johb’s horrific death or that Scott pointed the bike at my son and had seconds to get out of the way.”

Mr Treeby’s mum said an apology would have helped towards the family getting closure, but they never received one from Chapman, adding that she thinks the judiciary system has let her son down.

She added: “Eighteen months for deliberately taking an illegal bike and aiming it at someone is not right.”