Woman ‘pressed accelerator instead of brake before hitting young children outside school’
Witnesses say there was ‘sense of mayhem and panic’ before seven-year-old boy was knocked into air
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A mother-of-two pressed her 4×4’s accelerator instead of the brake pedal before it ploughed into a group of children outside a primary school, a court has heard.
Eight pupils and parents were standing outside Beatrix Potter Primary School in Openview, Earlsfield, south-west London, when they were struck by the Toyota Rav4 at just after 3pm on 8 September 2020.
Paramedics and London’s Air Ambulance were called to the scene just after 3.10pm. Eleven people, including seven children, were treated at the scene, with four adults and five children taken to hospital while two children were discharged.
Witnesses said there was a “sense of mayhem and panic” before a seven-year-old boy with his back to the car was knocked into the air, while others as young as six became trapped under the vehicle.
Dolly Rincon-Aguilar, 39, from Wandsworth, south London, who was picking up children from the school, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Pc Sean Wakeman, a forensic collision investigator (FCI) at the Metropolitan Police, told Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday there was “unintended acceleration due to a misapplication of the accelerator pedal”. He said: “Had she applied sufficient pressure to the brake pedal, the Toyota would have come to a stop and this may have avoided any casualties.”
The court heard the brakes were working “sufficiently” but Rincon-Aguilar mistakenly pressed the accelerator. Pc Wakeman added: “At no point were any brake lights visible.”
Stephen Cash, also an FCI, told the court: “Something has caused her to respond and go to the brakes. The car began to accelerate and in her mind she went for the brakes.
“She then would have pressed the accelerator harder because the vehicle wasn’t stopping.”
People nearby heard the “loud noise” of a “revving” engine as pupils were leaving the school. The green vehicle, driven by Rincon-Aguilar in a 20mph limit, mounted the pavement and hit a tree and then a wall, the jury heard.
Nathan Rasiah QC, prosecuting, previously said: “To their horror, the car continued and accelerated to the school entrance where a group of parents and children were stood.
“It appeared that the car continued to speed up straight towards them before coming to a stop outside the school gate.”
She said: “The car went fast and I hit a tree, I then heard screaming and tried to use the handbrake.”
One mother had been chatting to other parents outside the school before she was hit, the court heard. Her leg was trapped under the car while her son was badly injured
Another parent said she tried to run with her children as the vehicle sped towards them, but was “too late”. She went on in her statement: “I can’t remember exactly what happened because I was drifting in and out of consciousness.
“But I remember being trapped under the car, I felt it crushing me and I could not move or breathe.”
Her two children were carried away and they were all taken to hospital. A nanny who was collecting two children from the school said in a witness statement she thought “this is it” as the car approached them.
Mr Rasiah, reading her witness statement, said: “Suddenly I was face down and twisted… I could feel something on my leg.
“I was asking, ‘Where are the children?’”
A mother with two daughters saw a boy whose head was bleeding, while another said a child clearly had “significant injuries” to his leg.
The school’s deputy headteacher Sharon Gleed-Smith said in a witness statement she initially thought the loud bang was the sound of a gun. Another teacher spoke of hearing a “terror scream” from women and children.
Two victims had fractures to the face and skull, with one requiring emergency treatment to remove a blood clot.
Some of the children were left with “serious” fractures to the leg, arm and eye socket.
The trial continues.