Woman jailed for four years for causing eight-month-old baby's death
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A woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing the death of an eight-month-old baby by dangerous driving. Bridget Curtis, 71, had previously pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mabli Cariad Hall outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
Mabli was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after she was hit by a white BMW on Wednesday 21 June 2023. She was later moved to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where she died four days later. Mabli was described by her family as a "precious angel" who had "brought [them] so much joy in her short life".
'Entirely tragic'. Swansea Crown Court heard Mabli and her family were visiting her grandmother, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, when the crash happened. Prosecuting, Craig Jones said it was an "entirely tragic" case. He said Mabli was "very nearly nine months" when she died, a day when the weather conditions were "fine and dry".
Mabli was with her father in a grassed area under some trees opposite the hospital's entrance. "Mr Hall put Mabli back into her pushchair and was adjusting the straps when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle," Mr Jones said. The court heard that Curtis had given her daughter a lift to the hospital for an appointment and had stopped the car outside the main entrance to the hospital.
After she was dropped off, her daughter went to retrieve her handbag but was "unable to see the bag and tapped the window to attract her mother's attention". "With the engine running, [the defendant] turned around from her seat to look in the back," he said.
