A 51-year-old migrant farm worker was fined £850 and had the maximum nine penalty points placed on his driving licence at Arbroath Sheriff Court yesterday when he admitted being responsible for an accident in which a two-year-old Montrose girl was injured as she crossed the road with her mother and older sister.
Appearing before Sheriff Norrie Stein was Ryszard Cybula, who lives at an address in Montrose High Street and admitted through an interpreter that on January 18, in Murray Street, also Montrose, he drove without due care and attention, failed to comply with a red traffic light, drove on to a pedestrian crossing and collided with and injured Daisy Burns, who is now three.
Cybula had earlier admitted that, at the time of the accident, he was using the vehicle without insurance.
Depute fiscal Hazel Anderson told the court that Daisy and her then five-year-old sister Molly had been making their way home from a nearby dance studio and had waited at the pedestrian crossing-situated where Montrose High Street narrows and become Murray Street until the lights indicated it was safe to cross.
As they stepped on to the crossing Cybula drove through the red light, striking Daisy with such force that some witnesses recalled seeing the girl bounce off the car’s bonnet.
Ms Anderson said that Cybula appeared to pause briefly before driving off and that he presented himself at Montrose Police Office the following day.
The court was told that little Daisy sustained only very minor injuries-some grazing and bruising and had made a full recovery.
Defence solicitor Sandra Sutherland said her client was a genuine first offender with no endorsements on his licence in 30 years of driving in his native Poland or since he arrived in Scotland with his partner three years ago.
She said that, as a parent himself, he understood and sympathised with and unreservedly apologised for the worry, fear and concern his momentary lapse of concentration must have caused the girl’s family.
Appealing for a substantial fine and the maximum points to be imposed as an alternative to immediate disqualification, she said that Cybula depended on his car to convey himself and his partner on the daily round trip to their farm jobs near Kinneff in Aberdeenshire.
Sheriff Stein told Cybula, “This was a serious case of careless driving where you failed to comply with a red traffic light and drove on to a pedestrian crossing while a girl who was not much more than a toddler and her mother and slightly older sister were crossing.Not insured”This small girl suffered some injury, fortunately it was not serious, and the offence is aggravated by the fact that you did this while you were not insured.”
Imposing the fine and points, Sheriff Stein warned Cybula that the commission of any road traffic offence in the next three years would lead to automatic disqualification.
Speaking outside the court, Daisy and Molly’s mother Shona Burns said, “The punishment was actually heavier than we expected so we are quite satisfied with the outcome.
“I think Daisy was very, very lucky not to have been more seriously injured and, although she was very badly shocked and crying at the time, she has made a complete recovery.”
Mrs Burns, who was pregnant at the time and gave birth to her son Sebastian just five days after the ordeal, went on, “I have always encouraged my children to use pedestrian crossings properly, but in this case it didn’t make any difference because he just drove straight through.
“It was only afterwards that it really began to sink in just how horrific this could have been. I could have found myself in the position of looking after a newborn baby while grieving the loss of my two young daughters or even losing my unborn son and my own life as well.”