Parents say woman who texted at the wheel got off ‘scot-free’
THE parents of a three-yearold boy killed by a van driver who texted at the wheel have condemned her suspended sentence as “a sickening insult to his memory”.
Devastated Michael and Stacey Pringle, of Moodiesburn, near Glasgow, said they were badly let down by the justice system. They believe the woman who killed their son has got off “scot-free”.
Little Clinton was on holiday on Jersey with his mum in June last year when he was struck by Rebekah Le Gal’s van as he crossed a road in St Helier.
He suffered catastrophic injuries and died in hospital four days later.
Le Gal, 39, was cleared of a charge of dangerous driving.
She pled guilty to a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving, which carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment.
Yesterday, she was given an eight-month sentence suspended for two years. She was also banned from driving for 30 months.
Michael, 50, said: “It’s an absolute joke. The justice system has allowed her to get away with killing our wee boy.
“She will never serve any time in jail, there’s no real punishment for what she’s done.
“I’m totally disgusted this woman got away with killing our son.
“We have to go through the rest of our lives without Clinton – where is the justice in that?
“We are the ones dealing with a life sentence.”
Jersey’s Royal Court was told Le Gal was texting just before hitting Clinton on a road leading to a park. The “shared space” road was only supposed to be used
The justice system has allowed her to get away with killing our wee boy MICHAEL PRINGLE
by vehicles for local access.
Stacey and Clinton’s aunt Melissa Anderson screamed and waved their arms trying to alert Le Gal, but were unable to stop her hitting the boy.
Le Gal insisted she had not been texting and had just pressed “send” when she realised a message she wrote earlier to one of her sons had not gone through.
Michael, who was in Greece visiting friends while his wife was in Jersey with Clinton, flew back to spend his son’s last days with him in Southampton Hospital.
He and Stacey are expecting a boy next month.
The couple believe the trial was not “fair or equitable” and have asked the attorney general to look again at the case.
Solicitor Paul Kavanagh has been in touch with the Law Officers’ Department in Jersey to raise concerns that there was serious misdirection given to the two jurats – the people who decide on the facts of cases in Channel Islands courts – prior to their deliberation.
Michael said: “The entire trial was a whitewash and a prime example of Jersey looking after their own.
“If the trial took place in the UK, she would have been jailed.
“We believe there was compelling evidence in place to convict Rebekah Le Gal of the charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
“The commissioner directed that in order to convict, the jurats would need to be certain beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant had sent a text message at the moment of impact with Clinton or immediately before it.
“But there have been several cases which set precedent, which have been successfully prosecuted in the UK, without the need for such a high degree of probability. As a result of this misdirection, we believe there was a miscarriage of justice. “We have been informed that we cannot appeal the acquittal of the defendant, but we still believe the judge’s direction should be scrutinised.” Michael said Elaine Smith MSP had also raised their concerns with the bailiff of Jersey. A spokeswoman for the bailiff’s chambers said: “We can confirm that the bailiff has received a letter from a member of the Scottish Parliament expressing these concerns and he responded to it.”