A Dumfries man accused of causing the death of a two-year-old boy has told a jury at the town’s sheriff court that he thought he had “just hit a scooter” after leaving his home.
Alan Dalrymple, 56,was at the wheel of a car which collided with Alexandru George Radan on April 2, 2021.
Mr Dalrymple, of Charnwood Place, is accused of driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or public place and to have failed to maintain proper observations.
Mr Dalrymple pleaded not guilty to the alleged offence.
His car collided with Alexandru and his scooter in Charnwood Place near a play park. Alexandru was so severely injured that he died later that day at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.
The trial, which started on Monday, heard evidence from several people including police and forensic pathologist Dr Julie McAdam.
She said that Alexandru had suffered “55 separate injuries” and “the most significant injuries were to the head”.
She added: “Our findings in the case indicated the little boy was dead very quickly.”
There were emotional scenes in court as Alexandru’s clothing, including his tiny dark blue Adidas trainers, were shown to the jurors along with his scooter.
The court heard Mr Dalrymple, who gave no evidence during the trial, said after the incident he thought he’d run over a scooter in his car and decided to turn back and check it out.
A collated video was then played which began with Mr Dalrymple leaving his property – via his doorbell camera – then CCTV footage of the incident and his return to the scene.
PC Scott McCreadie told the court he later interviewed Mr Dalrymple who said: “I have nothing to hide, so yeah. When I reversed out from my car parking space, I went to move off around to the right of my house.
“I was aware that children were there on the left hand side of me and then there was just a bump. And then I see a scooter on the right hand side and I thought one of the children had left a scooter in the middle of the road.
“I continued to the junction and turned out onto Annan Road as I just thought I had hit a scooter.
“I drove up to Annan Road to the bridge and something just said go back.
“I came back and the child was on the pavement outside of the door next door.
“At no point had I even seen the child. I was looking at the park with the children on the left and didn’t see the other one.”
Expert witness Sergeant Lloyd Caven, said in the opinion of investigators that the driver of the Honda Civic should have been able to have seen Alex at the point of impact if he had been standing.
There was an area of danger to the driver’s left hand side in the form of the children playing in the park, however there was parked cars on the driver’s right hand side which would have also required his attention.
He insisted that while it cannot be determined in which direction the driver was looking, it does appear that the driver would have been able to have seen Alex had he had maintained a lookout of all around his vehicle on the approach of impact.
Given that the scooter had also been hit, he added it was highly probable that the driver would have felt the collision and possible that he could have seen Alex afterwards, and should have stopped.
Defence expert witness Gary MacKay – who is an independent road traffic investigator and was previously a police officer for 30 years – said there was “limited” evidence at the scene and also questioned the position of the play park.
He said: “Personally I don’t think it’s a very sensible or safe place for a play park to be used by children.
“The driver would be driving within the correct speed limit.
“It something appears from a blindspot there’s no way you could react to it.”
The jury retired yesterday to consider its verdict.
