The moment granny, 68, hit accelerator instead of brake – and killed pedestrian
THIS is the trail of tragedy left by a grandmother whose car mounted the pavement and killed a pedestrian after she mistook the accelerator for the brake.
A video played in court showed the moment Pertpall Sall, 68, driving a black Ford Focus, mowed down several people in Reading.
Sonata Saulytyte, 44, who had travelled from Lithuania to visit her niece, was killed. Her niece arrived at the scene to find her aunt’s body on the pavement.
Sall, who was yesterday jailed for 28 months, got out of the vehicle rubbing her head and told witnesses she had ‘lost her brakes’, and that Miss Saulytyte’s body had ‘already been there’.
Judge Paul Dugdale, sentencing Sall at Reading Crown Court, said: ‘Sometimes we all need to remind ourselves when we get behind the wheel we have an enormous responsibility to others. If we fail in that we put the lives of others at risk.’
Prosecutor Alan Blake told the court: ‘The defendant got out of her car with her hands on her head.
‘She was looking for something in the boot of her car and made comments saying her brakes had failed. She said to those around her that the body under the rubble was already there and that she hadn’t done anything wrong.’ A victim impact statement written by Miss Saulytyte’s niece was read to the court. It said: ‘It is impossible to put into words the sadness I have felt since my auntie was killed – it has changed mine and my family’s life for ever.’ Sall admitted causing death by dangerous driving.