A driver who tested positive for cannabis knocked down a three-year-old child as she crossed a pedestrian crossing with her mother, a court has heard.
The girl was thrown into the air by Charlene Lawlor’s car in June 2022 and suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain after the incident. She needs regular ongoing medical treatment.
Lawlor (33) of Derry Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12, has eight previous road traffic convictions – two of which post-date this offence. She was found to have 21.3ng/ml of cannabis in her system. The legal limit for cannabis while driving is zero, the court heard.
Lawlor was originally charged with dangerous driving causing serious bodily injury, but following a defence proposal she pleaded guilty to careless driving causing serious bodily harm on her trial date last March. She also pleaded guilty to a charge of drug driving. The offence occurred on the Long Mile Road in Dublin 12 on June 21st, 2022.
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Garda Rebecca Durney told Aideen Collard, prosecuting, that on the day in question, the child’s mother had just picked up her older child from school and was crossing the road with her two children, including her three-year-old daughter who was on a scooter.
The trio reached the central point, with a number of cars coming to a stop to allow them to cross.
However, when the girl on the scooter went slightly ahead of her mother as they continued crossing the road, Lawlor’s car drove up the bus lane and collided with her at speed, sending the child flying into the air.
Another driver at the scene put the mother and both children into her car and drove them to nearby Crumlin Hospital, where the girl received emergency treatment.
This witness then returned to the scene, telling gardaí she was the first car stopped at the pedestrian crossing when Lawlor’s car drove by “like a blur” before hitting the child.
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Lawlor was tested at the scene, proving negative for alcohol but positive for drugs. She told gardaí she had smoked cannabis the previous night. At the scene, she said she thought she had been driving at 50-60km/h.
When interviewed the following October, she told gardaí: “I blame the mother. She should have been more careful and not let the child go ahead on a scooter. There could have been a bus coming.”
While there was no victim impact statement in court, the parents have reported that the child is “not the same as she was” and is “very quiet and angry when before she used to be happy”. She finds it hard to play and regularly gets dizzy.
A medical report stated the child suffered a fractured skull in the wake of the incident and a scan found bleeding on the brain. She remained in hospital for one week and now requires regular MRIs and other imaging as well as weekly injections to prevent blood clots.
Keith Spencer, defending, said his client now “regrets anything she said in terms of victim-blaming” in the Garda interview and acknowledges her culpability in relation to the incident. A letter of apology for the injured party was handed up in court.
Judge Martina Baxter adjourned the case for finalisation on October 20th.
