A driver who fatally struck an eight-month-old baby in her pushchair while looking for a handbag in her car has been jailed, a court heard.
Bridget Curtis, 71, had taken her adult daughter for an appointment in Withybush Hospital in Pembrokeshire on 21 June 2023, when she turned round to help find a handbag in the rear of the BMW 520d car.
In doing so, the grandmother-of-10 pushed the accelerator of her car “right to the ground”, causing it to go forward 28 metres and hit the pushchair of Mabli Cariad Hall on a grassy area. Mabli died in her parents’ arms hospital on June 25 after suffering fatal head injuries.
At Swansea Crown Court this week, judge Geraint Walters disqualified Curtis from driving for eight years and sentenced her to four years in prison, describing her actions as “grossly reckless”.
At the sentencing hearing, Mabli’s parents stood together in the witness box as they gave harrowing statements about Mabli’s death and the impact of their loss.
Rob Hall said Curtis’ car “literally ripped my baby out of my arms” as he was placing her back into the pushchair.
“I remember Mabli smiling at me, making her cute noises as I was about to take her for a walk,” Mr Hall said. Mr Hall and his brother also both suffered injuries from the collision.
Mr Hall and his family, including wife Gwen, had been at the hospital visiting his mother, Betty Hall, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital and later died.
“The actions of Bridget Curtis denied me the opportunity to be at my mother’s passing,” he said. “I was forced to choose between her and my daughter. I had to say goodbye on Facetime with her asking me to be there.”
Mrs Hall told how Mabli had been sitting in her pushchair, away from the road, playing with her family, when she was fatally injured. “All that we have been through was avoidable,” she said.
Shh added: “She hadn’t crawled yet. She had said ‘Mama’ for the first time only the day before. We had so much planned with her. It was nowhere near the time for her to be taken away from us. She was my baby. My eight month old baby.”
Following the incident on 21 June in 2023, Curtis was arrested and later pleaded guilty to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
“Her life was taken from her senselessly and indeed needlessly as a result of your actions,” Judge Geraint told Curtis.
Representing Curtis, John Dye said his client had led a “blameless, law abiding life”. He told the court Curtis had written a letter to the Hall family, apologising for her actions, and described her as “absolutely devastated”.
In a statement issued by Dyfed-Powys Police, Mabli’s family said: “If anything is to be learned from the unnecessary loss of Mabli’s life, it is that everyone who sits behind the wheel of a vehicle needs to realise that they are responsible for their own actions and the wellbeing of others.”
