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It was meant to be the beginning of an thrilling new chapter in Simon Peckitt and Felicity Stewart’s lives however as a substitute their worlds have been torn aside.
The couple and their two younger daughters had spent the weekend house-hunting in central Victoria after deciding on a tree-change.
However because the household drove again to Melbourne on the Calder Freeway on December 6, 2021, a 43-tonne semitrailer crashed into the again of their Volkswagen.
Two-year-old Harriett, seated within the again seat, was killed immediately.
“She had the world in entrance of her,” Ms Stewart informed the County Courtroom.
“She was such a sort soul and introduced a lot pleasure to her mother and father, her sister and her wider household.
“It is terribly unfair that her life was minimize so terribly brief.”
The motive force of the semitrailer, Matthew John Livingston, on Monday pleaded responsible to culpable driving inflicting Harriett’s dying.
He additionally admitted negligent driving inflicting critical damage to Mr Peckitt and Ms Stewart, in addition to endangering 10 different folks within the neighborhood of the crash.
The court docket was informed within the 400m earlier than the crash website, there have been a number of indicators telling drivers to sluggish to 40km/h due to roadworks.
Livingston did not hit the brakes till 0.91 seconds earlier than the collision, placing the virtually stationary Volkswagen at 86km/h.
The semitrailer then veered to the suitable, hitting a Toyota Hilux which rolled and trapped one other driver for about two hours.
Three different automobiles have been struck both by the Volkswagen or the Hilux, whereas a number of different motorists have been pressured to maneuver their automobiles off the highway to keep away from being hit.
Ms Stewart needed to be airlifted to hospital the place she spent a number of months present process remedy for a catastrophic mind damage and different fractures.
She had post-traumatic amnesia for weeks after the crash and docs suggested her household to not inform her about Harriett’s dying till the top of January 2022.
Mr Peckitt additionally suffered cranium fractures and bleeding within the mind, with the accidents persevering with to have an effect on him to today.
“I awakened within the ICU in a state of delirium, utterly unaware of the ache and struggling to come back,” he informed the court docket.
“It is a unhappy reflection that the primary funeral I attended was that of my daughter.”
Ms Stewart additionally spoke of her youngest youngster Jemima, who at 12-months-old was trapped subsequent to her lifeless sister along with her two mother and father unconscious within the entrance seat.
“Jemima won’t ever know what it is prefer to have an older sister … she is not going to have her greatest mate beside her,” Ms Stewart learn to the court docket.
“She is going to carry this burden along with her for the remainder of her days.”
Prosecutor Grant Hayward informed the court docket Livingston had been sleep disadvantaged, with different motorists seeing him swerve between lanes within the lead-up to the crash.
However the defence is disputing that the 44-year-old was fatigued earlier than the collision.
The plea listening to earlier than Choose Michael Tinney continues.
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