A father whose daughter suffered devastating injuries in a Spanish holiday pool accident has been given a break by a sheriff.
Steven Simpson, 26, of Letham, appeared before Sheriff Gregor Murray at Forfar on Friday after breaching a community payback order.
His four-year-old daughter, Cally, almost drowned in a swimming pool in Salou in June.
She lay in a coma in a specialist hospital for several weeks before being flown back to Scotland for continuing treatment at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. The youngster was subsequently transferred to Ninewells in Dundee for more treatment.
The accident happened at the Hotel Villamarina in Salou, about 70 miles from Barcelona, where Cally was on her first foreign holiday with her father and other family members.
The court was told that the Spanish nightmare and other circumstances contributed to her father failing to complete the court order.
Simpson had been ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work by Sheriff Peter Paterson at Arbroath after he admitted mounting a pavement at speed on Seafield Road in May 2012 and driving towards and intentionally striking someone to their injury. He also admitted he was not insured.
His agent Angela McLardy acknowledged the breach of the order but added her client had suffered a broken ankle and had provided medical certificates to the court to that effect.
She said: “Then, in the summer of that year, Mr Simpson’s daughter is Cally Simpson who had a swimming pool accident and medical certificates were subsequently
provided.”
Given his circumstances, the defence solicitor questioned if giving more time for Simpson to complete his community payback order would be appropriate.
Deferring sentence until June 11, Sheriff Murray told Simpson: “I am going to revoke the community payback order and defer sentence for six months for you to be of good
behaviour.”
Cally’s parents have maintained a vigil at their daughter’s bedside, both in Spain and back in Scotland since the accident.
A Facebook page Saving Cally Simpson keeps well-wishers up to date on her progress. A family post in November expressed delight that Cally was set to start nursery soon
at Armistead child development centre in Dundee, attending the facility two days per week.
Doctors appear pleased with her progress so far and the family are determined to have Cally home as soon as possible.