Northern Ireland

Pensioner given community service for causing death of grandson (7) Jackson Turner in Boxing Day crash

Margaret Saunders was sentenced to 150 hours' community service
Margaret Saunders was sentenced to 150 hours' community service Margaret Saunders was sentenced to 150 hours' community service

A pensioner who caused the death of her seven-year-old grandson in an almost head-on collision has been told to serve 150 hours of community service.

Belfast Crown Crown heard that Margaret Saunders was "deeply remorseful'' and wished "she had died in the crash'' on St Stephen's Day 2015 which claimed the life of Jackson Turner.

The 73-year-old retired community care worker, from Forthill Park in Newtownabbey, had been driving her grandchildren to their home in Carrickfergus.

She was due to go on trial last year accused of causing the death of the seven-year-old by dangerous driving but the prosecution accepted her guilty plea to the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

Prosecution counsel Ciaran Murphy said Mrs Saunders was driving her Nissan Micra from the Mossley area along Old Carrick Road between 6pm and 6.30pm when she made contact with two oncoming vehicles.

During the first incident, the wing mirror of her car clipped the wing mirror of a Citroen Picasso.

A few seconds later, Mr Murphy said "her Nissan Micra crossed 80 centimetres into the other lane, colliding almost head on with a Nissan Almera car''.

Jackson, who was sitting strapped into a booster seat directly behind his grandmother, suffered "catastrophic and fatal injuries'' while his sister, a front seat passenger who was also wearing a seat belt, escaped uninjured.

Mrs Saunders later told police she had no recollection of the collision and only recalled waking up in hospital, where she spent five weeks undergoing treatment for multiple fractures including a broken pelvis, as well as a bleed on the brain.

Her car was found to have no defects and experts did not believe excessive speed was a factor.

Jackson Turner (7)
Jackson Turner (7) Jackson Turner (7)

Defence counsel Patrick Lyttle said Mrs Saunders - whose son is Jackson's father - had lived "an unblemished life, has been driving for 40 years and has never been before the courts".

"All she lived for was her family: her husband, her three daughters and her son Alan. She worked all her life to support her family.

"She is truly remorseful for what happened.''

The lawyer said witnesses described the conditions that evening as "pitch black'' and the road surface as wet.

"It appears now, and is accepted by the prosecution, that the first incident was caused by a 'moment of inadvertence' which caused the defendant to clip the wing mirror of the Citroen Picasso car," he said.

"It is that impact and that surprise which caused her to lose further control and move across the road, by about two degrees says our expert, and caused the collision with the Almera vehicle with devastating consequences.

"She wishes she had died and Jackson had lived and is fully aware of the impact this tragic death has had on the rest of the family, her daughter in law, the mother of Jackson, and her son.

"This case has been a sobering one for us all and shows how a moment of inadvertence can result in such tragic loss."

Judge David McFarland said near misses through careless driving happen on a daily basis, and minor accidents sometimes result in serious injuries while serious crashes can result in only minor injuries.

He said taking into account the defendant's work ethic, her clear record, the injuries she sustained and genuine remorse she expressed, he was imposing a community service order as opposed to a probation order.

She was also banned from driving for 12 months and will have to resit her driving test.

Jackson Turner
Jackson Turner Jackson Turner