The parents of a three-year-old boy who died after being knocked down by a motorist who sent a text seconds before have spoken of their shock after the woman was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.
Clinton Pringle, from Moodiesburn, North Lanarkshire, was on a family holiday in Jersey last summer when he was hit by a VW Transporter driven by Rebekah Le Gal as he crossed the road on the way to a park.
Le Gal had sent a text to her son 16 seconds earlier.
The 39-year-old was cleared on Monday at the island’s Royal Court of causing death by dangerous driving. She claimed it had not distracted her and described it as a “measured act” – a defence that was accepted by the court.
Clinton’s parents Michael and Stacey said they were “shocked” and “gobsmacked” by the verdict.
Mr Pringle, 50, said: “The facts of his death are now down on record for all to see.
“The most obvious fact is Rebekah Le Gal had plenty of time to see him and stop safely and should have, but she didn’t.”
He said the case had been “absolutely horrific” especially for his wife and Clinton’s aunt, Melissa, who have been forced to relive the ordeal.
Mr Pringle added: “It’s been a horrendous time for all of us, but especially for them. For me, it was the first time I had seen the fine details of what happened and I think people can make their mind up.”
He said the family would be unable to “pick up the pieces” and would be “forever stuck in June 2016”.
The father added: “Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting Clinton will remember what a wonderful child he was. Nothing will ever compensate for his loss at such a young age.”
The court heard that Clinton’s mother Stacey and aunt Melissa Anderson “screamed” and waved their arms in a desperate bid to alert Le Gal as the youngster crossed the road.
Defending Le Gal, Matthew Jowitt claimed she had sent her reply to a message from her son asking for his grandmother’s phone number just16 seconds before the impact.
Phone records showed she texted back with the grandmother’s phone number 12 seconds after reading the message.
Mr Jowitt told the court that was an “awfully long time” for his client to still be distracted from “simply pressing send on a text”.
Clinton died in hospital in Southampton three days three days after he was struck by the vehicle.
Le Gal, 39 who was driving, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving after police found she sent a ‘trivial’ text to her son just before the crash.
The Royal Court in Jersey also heard evidence that appeared to suggest the text may have left her phone earlier than the 16 seconds before the accident due to the amount of mobile phone apps she had open at the time.
Le Gal had previously admitted the lesser charge of death by careless driving and will be sentenced next month.
The States of Jersey Police have warned they will not hesitate to tackle instances of motorists texting while driving.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here