Drink-driver knocked baby out of his father’s arms in hit and run
A Drink-driver left a baby for dead after knocking him out of his father’s arms in a hit and run incident.
The baby was left lying on the road as his father was dragged along by the car.
Suzanne Sellar was found guilty of driving dangerously and fleeing the scene of the accident in Perth while under the influence of alcohol.
She claimed she had downed more than a bottle of wine in the 40 minutes between the crash and when police arrived at her home. After she was convicted yesterday, Perth Sheriff Court was told that Sellar, 49, had another conviction for drinkdriving from 2013.
Sheriff William Wood said: ‘It’s simply not plausible that she would not have been aware the collision had taken place.
‘I’m satisfied she was driving dangerously. This was a collision with a pedestrian that was sufficient to cause him to bang into the car. It seems to be implausible that she could drink so much in a short period of time.’
Sellar drove off after striking the man while he was holding his son. The one-year-old was not seriously injured. Sellar also struck a woman with the car’s wing mirror.
Another pedestrian who saw the car coming grabbed his young daughter and put her on the roof of a car to get her out of the way.
Witnesses at the trial said that Sellar’s black Mini briefly slowed down after the collision before speeding up to flee the scene.
The man who was struck was joined by his father and they drove around Perth until they found the car – still missing its wing mirror – parked outside Sellar’s home.
The 64-year-old grandfather said: ‘We cruised around until we spothit
‘I wasn’t sure if he was alive’
ted the car. The driver got out and was taking shopping bags out of the car. My son was very distressed and angry because he had seen my grandchild’s life put at risk, so I tried to calm him down.
‘Her words were slurred. My son said, “You knocked down and could have killed my child” and I believe she said, “You shouldn’t have been standing in the road”.
‘She went into her house and I thought she was unsteady. I was quite shocked. She was obviously drunk and had been drinking.
‘I knew it was her car because the wing mirror was missing – it was still outside my son’s house in the middle of the road.’
The 24-year-old father said: ‘I got by a car when I was holding my son. He was one. He was in my hands, it was so quick.
‘My friend saw the car coming and he put his daughter on the roof of the car because he would have been hit as well with his daughter.
‘My son got flung out of my arms. It was as if it was aiming at us. My back was all cut and stuff. It came at us quick.
‘I got dragged while my son got flung in the other direction. I got spun and the wing mirror dragged me. When the power of the car hit me I couldn’t hold my son.’
Another witness said she saw the baby lying on the road and told the trial: ‘I wasn’t sure if he was alive or not. I just saw him lying there.
‘It was a black Mini. It kind of slowed down as if it was going to stop but then it sped straight off up the street.
‘It was a speed it shouldn’t be on that street – really fast.’
Sellar, from Perth, was found guilty of driving dangerously at excessive speed and under the influence of alcohol in the city on April 28.
She was also found guilty of driving while she was nearly four times the alcohol limit and failing to stop after the accident.
Sellar was banned from driving on an interim basis and the sentence was deferred for reports.