Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Driver sent a text before her vehicle hit toddler
A van driver sent a “trivial” text message to her son just seconds before she hit and killed Moodiesburn toddler Clinton Pringle.
The three-year-old was tragically knocked down while on holiday with his mum Stacey in Jersey last June.
Rebekah Le Gal, 39, denies one count of causing death by dangerous driving after her black VW Transporter hit little Clinton – beloved son of former Advertiser reporter Michael Pringle – as he crossed a road on his way to a park.
The youngster died three days later in Southampton Hospital from “catastrophic, non-survivable injuries”.
Outlining the case at the start of a trial at Royal Court in Jersey, Solicitor General Mark Temple, prosecuting, said Le Gal had just read a message from her son asking for his grandmother’s phone number.
He told the court this was “one minute and 25 seconds” before a bystander called 999 after the child had been fatally injured by the van.
Mr Temple said that phone records show that Le Gal replied to her son’s text with the grandmother’s phone number 12 seconds after she had read the message.
He added that seconds before Clinton was hit, his mum Stacey and aunt Melissa Anderson “screamed” and waved their arms to try to alert the driver to the fact he was crossing the road.
But Le Gal insisted using her phone was a “measured act” as transcripts of her second police interview were read out in court.
During one exchange with detectives, Le Gal said: “I know I should not have texted when I was in my car but it was a measured act.
“I did it when I slowed right down.
“I was aware of my surroundings and then I put it right down.”
Her comments were made during an interview in September, but when interviewed on the day of the collision, Le Gal did not mention using her phone.
It is also the Crown’s case that Le Gal was driving dangerously because she was using a street as a through road when it is for access to premises only.
The trial continues.