Mum of Hit and Run Accident Victim Appeals for Witnesses

Hit and run accident case

The mother of a four-year-old Newcastle boy who was seriously injured in a hit and run accident has appealed for witnesses.

Kai was crossing Westmorland Road on his way to Elswick Park at 5.45pm on Tuesday, October 30^th 2007. He was with his Aunt Emma Mackell, when he crossed the road ahead of her. He reached the centre of the single carriageway and onto the furthest carriageway ahead of his Aunt when he was struck by a vehicle.

Kai’s Aunt saw him being hit and thrown into the air by a small, dark-coloured car, which drove away from the incident in an easterly direction along Westmoreland Road in the direction of the A189 and Newcastle City Centre. Kai sustained a broken right femur and broken left tibia and fibula, and was also left with lumps and bruises on his head and swelling around his stomach.

Kai spent three months in a wheelchair after the incident and, though he is up and about and has returned to St Michael’s school, he has been left with mobility problems.

Now his mum, Bernadette Mackell, has enlisted the help of specialist personal injury law firm Irwin Mitchell to pursue compensation.

Ms Mackell said: “The driver must have noticed what happened – there’s no way you could hit a four year old boy and not know about it. It happened on a busy road near Newcastle city centre – somebody must have seen something.

“Kai was in a wheelchair for about three months after the accident and, though he is up and about now, he still has a limp and cannot run properly to play with his friends.

“It has been a terrible ordeal for such a young boy and he doesn’t like to talk about the accident. Kai is generally a very happy boy, but, for example, he is very nervous around vehicles now, even when getting into a car.”

Solicitor Helen Seabury, from Irwin Mitchell, said: “We can mount an untraced driver claim but the process would be much smoother if we could locate the driver.

“One witness reported a partial number plate to police but follow-up enquiries were fruitless. Any information that people have about what happened would be most useful.”

Anybody with any information about the incident should contact Helen Seabury at Irwin Mitchell on 0191 2790112.