THE mother of a 12-year-old girl who died when a wall collapsed at an Edinburgh school has told how her daughter’s infant brother is helping the family to heal.
Keane Wallis-Bennett was killed in the freak accident at Liberton High School in April 2014.
Her mother Abbie Wallis has since given birth to a son, James, who turned one a week ago.
And Mrs Wallis, 37, said James has helped Keane’s 13-year-old brother Ryan to laugh again.
Speaking after it was announced a fatal accident inquiry will look into Keane’s tragic death, she added: “I think James was sent to help us heal, to give me that little bit of strength and spark and to bring back a wee piece of Keane.
“He’s helped me see a way through all of this and given us all strength – and he makes Ryan smile, which is really precious.
“We can laugh together now, which is something we didn’t do for a long time.”
Mrs Wallis also told how she shows pictures and videos of Keane to James.
She added: “I say to him ‘this is your big sister and she’s watching out for you’. I tell him how special she was.
“Now when he sees a photo of Keane, he will stare and try to touch it. I want to make sure he grows up knowing her.”
Mrs Wallis recalled Keane being delighted when Ryan was born.
“She made such a fuss of Ryan when he was born and I’m sure she would have been the same with James”, said Mrs Wallis.
“She would have doted on him. I think she would have made a wonderful mum herself one day.”
The fatal accident inquiry is expected to look into errors that led up to the collapse of the wall at the school two-and-a-half years ago.
A health and safety probe has already revealed the wall was known to be faulty, having been built too thin for its height, but that a planned demolition had been shelved on cost grounds.
Mrs Wallis said she is relieved the inquiry will go ahead, but is worried about what she might hear.
“There are probably certain things I won’t want to know,” she added. “I imagine the evidence will be heard in quite an impersonal way, but this is my daughter they will be talking about.
“It will be difficult. But if they hadn’t decided to hold an inquiry, it would have felt like Keane wasn’t important enough to look into what happened.
“I hope that lessons will be learned.”
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