A pensioner accused of inflicting the loss of life of a child boy by careless driving will say she had undiagnosed Alzheimer’s illness on the time and can mount a defence of madness, a courtroom has heard.
Shelagh Robertson, 75, was driving dwelling from buying at Tesco when she was the trail of an oncoming van on the A10 at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire on 22 January final 12 months, forcing the van on to the pavement, Cambridge Crown Court heard.
The van hit five-month-old Louis Thorold and his mom Rachael Thorold, killing him and throwing Mrs Thorold into the air and inflicting her critical accidents.
Another driver who witnessed the crash, Kaye Lewis, mentioned in a press release learn in courtroom that the van driver was “fighting the steering wheel but the van just kept going towards the pavement”.
She mentioned she remembered seeing the “absolute terror” on Mrs Thorold’s face when she noticed the van earlier than she was “thrown 15ft in the air then landed”.
“I saw the pram just disintegrate into pieces and go under the van,” she added.
Robertson, of Stables Yard, Waterbeach, denies inflicting the infant boy’s loss of life by careless driving.
James Leonard, defending, advised the courtroom it was “agreed by any reasonable objective test the way Mrs Robertson drove on the day of the accident fell below the standard to be expected from a reasonable, competent driver”.
“The issue in this case is whether or not Mrs Robertson was suffering from insanity as it’s recognised by law,” he mentioned.
“The defence case is that Mrs Robertson had undiagnosed atypical Alzheimer’s disease both before the accident and on the day, and that’s what will lead to the conclusion that the defence of insanity is made out.”
Mark Bishop, the choose, advised the jury of 9 girls and three males that for a defence of madness to succeed they have to be persuaded Robertson was affected by atypical Alzheimer’s illness on the time of the crash and that “as a result of that disease she experienced disrupted thinking”.
He mentioned the disrupted considering may both be that as she drove the automobile she “didn’t know what she was doing” or that she “didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong by the standards of reasonable people”.
David Matthew, for the prosecution, mentioned Robertson had turned proper and pushed her Mazda 2 automobile into the trail of an oncoming Renault van that was travelling south alongside the A10 on the junction with Car Dyke Road.
“The impact forced the van on to the pavement,” he mentioned.
“Walking along the pavement towards the van were Rachael Thorold and pushing in front of her five-month-old son Louis in a pushchair.
“The van went over them.”
Mr Matthew mentioned the van was pushed by supply driver Andrew Freestone, whom he described as a “careful and professional driver”.
He mentioned the incident was captured by dashcam footage and Mr Freestone was driving “properly, sensibly and within the speed limit”, which on the time was 50mph.
Mr Matthew mentioned Mr Freestone “tried to steer to his right” to keep away from a collision.
“He saw the pushchair, heard thumps, saw the woman with the pushchair go up in the air,” he mentioned.
He mentioned of Robertson: “Obviously a competent and careful driver doesn’t drive into the path of oncoming traffic which has the right of way without looking.”
Mr Matthew mentioned a witness had spoken to Robertson after the crash as she sat behind one other automobile and that she advised them: “I just didn’t see him coming.”
Another witness described Robertson as “alert, agile” and “able to scoot across the Mazda and leave by the passenger door” after the crash.
Louis was pronounced lifeless on arrival at hospital, Mr Matthew mentioned.
PC Matthew Bill, of Cambridgeshire Police, mentioned Mr Freestone had “less than half a second” to react to the automobile pulling out of a filter lane and throughout his path.
The trial, which is because of final lower than every week, continues.
Source: information.sky.com”