A pensioner who was involved in a crash that killed a five-month-old baby has been found guilty of causing death by careless driving.
Shelagh Robertson, 75, was walking home from shopping at Tesco when she swerved into the path of an oncoming van on the A10 at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire on January 22 last year, Cambridge Crown Court heard.
The van collided with Robertson’s car, throwing it onto the pavement, where it struck Rachel Thorold and her five-month-old son Louis Thorold, killing baby Louis and throwing Mrs Thorold into the air, causing her serious injuries.
Robertson, of Stables Yard, Waterbeach, denied causing the baby’s death by careless driving, with her defense team claiming she was not guilty by reason of insanity as she had undiagnosed dementia at the time.
Five-month-old Lewis Thorold with his mother Rachel Thorold (Cambridgeshire Police/ PA)
(PA Media)
James Leonard, defending, said in his closing argument that it was “clear” Robertson’s driving “fell below the standard of a reasonable and competent driver”. But he said Robertson was “ill-equipped to negotiate” the junction because of her dementia and she was unaware of it as she was undiagnosed at the time.
“She’s trying to be safe but she just doesn’t have the presence of mind to be safe,” Mr Leonard said.
Prosecutor David Mathew said in his closing argument: “There is no doubt that Shelagh Robertson suffers from a form of dementia and was suffering from it in January 2021.” He said an MRI scan of Robertson’s brain, which showed shrinkage of part of the brain, related to memory and language, taken in September or October last year, is “strong evidence of this”.
But he raised the question of “where on the dementia slope Shelagh Robertson was in January 2021”.
“It’s not just a question of whether someone has dementia, it’s how bad it is,” he said.
Chris and Rachel Thorold, parents to baby Louis, arrive for an earlier hearing at Cambridge Crown Court (Joe Giddens/Pennsylvania)
(PA cable)
Mr Mathew said Robertson had no previous convictions.
Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Exeter, was instructed by lawyers to compile a report for Robertson.
He told jurors the defendant had “dementia caused most likely by Alzheimer’s disease in a mildly atypical presentation.”
Professor Zeman said Robertson would have been at “a high risk of becoming confused at this junction and one possible result of the confusion would be to look in the wrong direction”.
The expert added that Robertson has “few close relatives” and her husband is “seriously unwell,” which is important because “husbands are often the ones who bring you along” for a dementia diagnosis.
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