A father says his son is the ”forgotten victim” of a tragic crash in which an “inspirational” teacher was killed.
After Jacqueline Davidson the driver who caused the tragedy which killed Lorna Grant was sentenced on Thursday, Graham Chesters (49) said he and his wife Estelle feel ”let down” on behalf of their son Sam (11), who was nine at the time of the fatal collision.
The Dundee High School pupil was a passenger in family friend Davidson’s car that day and sustained a severe brain injury due to the impact.
However, Mr Chesters says he feels Davidson has been painted as more of a victim than his son, who has been left with a lifelong impairment.
Mr Chesters said he wanted to make it clear that they had no issue with the sheriff’s sentence. He said the family, who stay in Broughty Ferry, had not wanted Davidson to be jailed.
”She didn’t go out to do it, although she is responsible for what happened,” he said. ”But what I am disappointed in is that throughout this court case, Sam seems to be the forgotten victim.
”We fully appreciate the terrible fact that Lorna Grant lost her life. There was mention, quite rightly, by the sheriff and Mrs Davidson’s counsel of the impact it had on the Grant family and our thoughts and condolences go out to them.
”However, we feel that on the day she admitted the charge, Jacqui Davidson was painted as a victim. Her counsel spoke about her torture, remorse and regret.
”While I can fully understand the stress and the pressure that she has been under during this process, I did get a sense that she was portraying herself in the media as a victim.
”While that’s her personal view I feel there’s something not right about using the media in this way without at least mentioning what Sam has been left to deal with.
”The sheriff acknowledged that children were severely injured, but it was said that they had made significant progress and had been discharged from the care of the NHS.
”But Sam seems to have been overlooked. No one has mentioned the fact that out of all the survivors, he was the most seriously injured. He spent a number of weeks in intensive care and suffered a catastrophic brain injury and he’ll have to live with his impairment for the rest of his life.
”He still sees a therapist twice a week and he’s away to start another course of phsyiotherapy. He’s been assessed by a neuropsychologist at the Sick Children’s Hospital in Edinburgh and his treatment and therapy will be ongoing for the foreseeable future.
”The worst part of it all is that we can’t tell yet how badly he’s been affected because the part of his brain that was most severely damaged doesn’t normally develop until early adolescence.”
While Sam didn’t suffer any broken bones in the crash, Mr Chesters says his emotional scars are still being felt by all the family and clearly will do for some time yet.
”Sam has problems with his short-term memory. He completely forgets things that were said five minutes before. He’s also emotionally vulnerable, he gets disproportionately upset about little things and he suffers excessive fatigue.
”The outlook was terrible at the time but the outcome is thankfully not as bad as we thought it might be that’s only as a result of the skill of the NHS staff and we have a lot to thank them for.”