A distraught father screamed out in court yesterday after the lorry driver who killed his daughter was spared jail.
Robert Morrison insisted afterwards the community service sentence handed to John O’Donnell felt like Chloe “had been killed all over again”.
A court heard O’Donnell had caused the death of “beautiful and sensitive” nursery teacher daughter Chloe when she was struck by a steel beam sticking out from his lorry.
Sentencing the 53-year-old to 100 hours of unpaid work and banning him from driving for 12 months, judge Lord Stuart said the crime “did not warrant a custodial sentence”.
As O’Donnell, of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, was sentenced, Robert screamed “No, no, no” at the top of his voice, and “I’m so sorry, Chloe”. An angry member of the public slammed a door loudly on their way out.
The court heard O’Donnell was driving through Drumnadrochit, on the western shore of Loch Ness, when he failed to notice a fully extended stabiliser leg protruding from his vehicle, which had a crane attached.
It struck Chloe, 26, who was walking along the pavement with her mother, in the back. Chloe, from the Inverness-shire village, was propelled 115ft and died after suffering multiple fractures.
O’Donnell had driven his lorry from Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire to the north of Skye on October 24, 2019, where his load of cable ducts was taken off.
He stayed overnight and said he had dropped his stabilising legs the following day because of gales, although he was not trained to do so. He later set off on his return journey.
He insisted he did not extend or touch the controls of the outrigger beams – entirely separate from the stabilising legs.
But CCTV showed the near side outrigger’s yellow warning band was indicating it was unlocked, when he filled up with diesel on Skye.
Evidence showed the sign would have been visible in his nearside mirror. O’Donnell said he did not know what the sign meant but if he had seen it, “Chloe Morrison would still be here today.”
He was found guilty by a jury of of causing Chloe’s death by careless driving after a six-day trial last month. Leaving the High Court in Stirling, Chloe’s father Robert slammed the sentence and said O’Donnell was “a b*****d”.
He added: “We are not in a good place at the moment. We need to gather our thoughts about what we feel is a travesty of justice against my darling Chloe.
“It’s as if he killed Chloe all over again today, such was the reaction to his sentencing.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
