THE mother of a two-year-old girl killed when a driver mounted the pavement has told how she cries herself to sleep every night.
A victim impact statement from Sara Edwards was read out at the High Court in Edinburgh, where 23-year-old Luke Pirie admitted causing her daughter Harlow’s death by dangerous driving.
It told how the mother has been “robbed of a lifetime of memories” and expects bad news every time the phone rings.
Pirie, from Forfar, was “worked up” and angry as he left work at Scone Airport in Perth to travel to his partner’s house in Montrose last October, the court heard.
Harlow was walking along a pavement in Coupar Angus, Perth and Kinross, with older children aged six and 17 when two cars crashed on the road close to them.
All three were struck when Pirie’s car mounted the pavement, killing Harlow instantly and throwing the others over a wall.
Advocate Depute Iain McSporran QC said Pirie had been seen speeding through the town and had used his mobile for calls, texts and a Facetime before the incident.
CCTV showed his Ford Focus pulling out and trying to overtake traffic, colliding with a Citroen at around 50mph as it began to turn right after signalling.
Harlow suffered “multiple severe injuries” while the 17-year-old suffered bleeding on the brain and a spinal fracture which left her in a wheel chair for three months. The other child suffered a skull fracture and permanent scarring.
Mark Stewart, defending, said Pirie’s memory of the crash is “very limited” but he “wrongly believed” he was overtaking a stationary line of traffic.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow next month.
Judge Lord Ericht told him: “Because of what you did, Harlow will never return home.”
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