A MUM has avoided jail after her baby boy was thrown from a car window and killed as he had not been properly strapped into his seat.
On July 13, 2022, Morgan Kiely, who was 19 at the time, had been drinking rosé wine with her friend Stevie Steel at Clacton Beach. Subsequently, she entered her friend’s Ford Focus with her six-month-old son Harry.
However, as they drove away, the car rolled over and ended up on its roof.
In the process of flipping, Harry was thrown from his seat, leaving the vehicle through an open window.
He later died that night from “unsurvivable” injuries, including a skull fracture.
Today, Kiely – now aged 22 – was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Steel also previously admitted causing death by careless driving while over the drink drive limit.
While Kiely chose not to give evidence at her trial, a key witness said it was “highly likely” that the straps of Harry’s seat had not been secured.
The trial at Chelmsford Crown Court revealed that Kiely was a passenger in the front seat of Steel’s car, while her son Harry was in the rear seat directly behind her.
The pair of adults had met up at about 3pm and bought three bottles of rosé wine on their way to the beach.
While on the beach for several hours, they were briefly joined by Mitchell Basssett, Steel’s former partner.
He offered them a lift from the beach after hearing their plans to continue drinking that evening.
However, they refused.
Judge Robert Jay said: “Alarm bells should have been ringing in your head at that point.
“You knew how much Stevie had drunk. You could and should have taken up Mitchell’s offer.
“A mother should not agree to travel with a drunk driver.”
The court heard that a distracted Steel hit a parked car while driving on Cherry Tree Avenue in the coastal town.
Steel’s Ford Focus had been travelling within the 30mph speed limit but rolled after hitting the static motor, eventually ending up on its roof.
Both women were left hanging upside down by their seatbelts while Harry was thrown from the vehicle through an open window.
Judge Jay said: “This was not an accident that was likely to happen.
“Maybe 99 times out of 100 the car would not have rolled over at this sort of speed and Harry would have survived.”
Harry suffered a devastating skull fracture and was treated at the scene for more than an hour before he was rushed to hospital.
Members of the public had come to assist at the scene, including a paediatric nurse.
Despite the best efforts of medical crew to save his life at the hospital, he tragically died at about 9pm that evening.
‘THIS WAS A SINGLETON FAILURE’
During the trial, the jury examined a 999 call from the scene, bodycam footage from an officer, testimony from an expert witness about the functionality of the child car seat, and evidence from Mr Bassett.
Judge Jay told Kiely: “Harry’s safety was your responsibility. It should have been your primary concern that day.”
He said her negligent conduct that day was a lapse in her otherwise good care of Harry.
“I think that it is obvious to everyone in this courtroom that you were a very good mother to Harry in all respects, and that this was a singleton failure,” the judge said.
The court heard Kiely had given up her job as a carer and now has a four-month-old baby.
Benjamin Summers, defending, had read out statements to the court describing Kiely as a “devoted and loving mother” to Harry, and who was “deeply caring”.
The court heard she had taken Harry on trips to Liverpool and Scotland in his short life to visit relatives, and had recently returned to work as a carer.
The jury heard from an expert witness earlier in the trial about the child car seat and how it is designed to work.
The witness said it was highly unlikely but not impossible the straps of the seat had been secured in the car.
Mr Summers said: “Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful error, it was, but, we say, not making her grossly negligent at the time.
“We say it is not as simple as saying the failure to secure a child in a car seat, full stop, is enough.”
