‘Distracted’ driver swerved on to pavement and killed baby, court told

A “distracted” hit-and-run driver swerved on to the pavement and killed a baby after colliding with another car while driving on the wrong side of the road, a court has heard.

Two-week-old Ciaran Morris was being pushed in a pram by his family in High Street in Brownhills, Walsall, at about 4pm on Easter Sunday last year, when it was struck by a small BMW saloon, which then hit a shop wall.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that James Davis was driving the car, and had been travelling at 67mph in a 30mph zone just seconds before the fatal crash.

Jurors heard that the 35-year-old ran off shortly after the collision and told a passer-by he “had killed a baby and was going down for a long time”.

Davis is also said to have claimed to police that he had suffered a coughing fit shortly before the incident.

Witnesses to the crash could be heard “screaming” before they “desperately tried to get the car off the child”.

Opening the case against Davis on Monday, prosecutor James Curtis QC said: “This case concerns the tragic killing of an 18-day-old child by an act of exceptionally bad and dangerous driving by this defendant, James Davis.

“He was driving a small BMW saloon in Brownhills, Walsall – it was in a shopping area, populated by shoppers and passers-by. Driving conditions were perfect.

“Suddenly he made a manoeuvre which was to prove fatal.

“First he drifted, veered, out of his side of the road, over the centre line, and struck a car which was coming in the opposite direction, on the correct side.

“This did major damage to both cars.”

Mr Curtis continued: “From there, the BMW swerved in a curve, on the wrong side of the road, and on to the opposite pavement, where a couple were wheeling their new baby, called Ciaran Morris.

“The car crashed into the pushchair, the pram, before hitting the wall and inevitably stopping.

“It caused fatal injuries to the head and body of that little child, who died in hospital soon afterwards, despite all attempts to save him.”

Speaking of Davis’s actions shortly after the crash, Mr Curtis said: “The defendant got out of his car – he was perfectly able to do that – and he ran off on foot.

“Once at a safe distance, he approached a passer-by, saying that he had killed a baby and was going down for a long time.

“The only explanation that he could give to the police and in the 999 call was that he thought he had had a coughing fit and passed out at the wheel.”

The prosecutor continued: “He was fully fit, and he was clear-headed enough, the Crown say, to invent what we say is a false defence.

“The Crown say there is no medical excuse for this driving at all – that is fabrication.

“This was a classic momentary inattention or distraction, for whatever reason.

“We say that, quite simply, he did something that made him lose control of that car – whatever it was – we may never hear the total truth as to what it was.

“We say he is therefore guilty of the crime of causing death by dangerous driving.”

Davis, of Croxtalls Avenue, Walsall, denies causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving, and causing death by driving while uninsured.

The trial continues.