A 92-year-old woman who mistook the accelerator for the brake has apologized to the family of the schoolboy she fatally hit.
Calvin Wijeweera, 17, was struck and killed by Joan Ellen Smith’s gray sedan after it mounted the curb in Carlingford, North West Sydneyon December 1, 2022.
In Sydney’s Burwood Court on Monday, Smith pleaded guilty to negligent driving causing death as the schoolboy’s weeping parents Sandun and Anoma Wijeweera looked on.
“I want to say to the boy’s family that I am so sorry,” she said.
Calvin Wijeweera, 17, was struck and killed by Joan Ellen Smith’s car on December 1, 2022
‘I live with this every day and I will never forget it. I can’t say anything else,” reported the Daily telegram.
Calvin, who attended Carlingford High School, was walking with four friends along Rembrandt Street on the way to Carlingford Court shopping center at around 11.15am when Smith’s car crashed into them.
The impact catapulted Calvin into a mobile mechanic’s Toyota HiAce, which was parked in a driveway.
Despite the efforts of emergency services, he died at the scene, while another 17-year-old friend suffered head injuries.
Smith, a mother of two and grandmother of five, was supported in court by a daughter and a grandson.
Her attorney John Galluzzo said the fatal accident was a “momentary error and a mistake.”
The court was told Smith was driving from Carlingford Court shopping center onto Rembrandt Street when the accident occurred.
Although she initially believed it was a mechanical failure that caused her to encounter the boys, she later accepted the police’s finding that she had pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.
In sentencing Smith to a 12-month community corrections order (good behavior bond), Magistrate Christopher Halburd said:mith had one of the best driving records I’ve ever seen.
Smith (pictured centre) is helped to Burwood Court in Sydney by a daughter for the hearing
“To this day, she has been a very careful driver, an exemplary driver,” he said.
Smith had been driving on an unrestricted license since 1966 and had only one traffic offense for driving on a T-lane in 2008.
Her Mitsubishi Lancer was regularly serviced and she underwent regular medical tests that showed she was fit to continue driving.
After the accident she immediately surrendered her license and the court was told planning to never drive again.
Magistrate Halburd said the case was exceptionally sad but in the circumstances it would be inappropriate to sentence Smith to a prison term.
Smith’s gray sedan drove onto the footpath in Carlingford and struck the three schoolboys, pinning Calvin against a parked van
The 17-year-old wanted to become an aeronautical engineer (photo from right to left: Calvin, his mother Anoma, his father Sandun and sister Ovindi)
However, the sentence was to reflect the fact that “a child has died, something his family has to live with for the rest of their lives, and he has been deprived of the opportunity to live his life.”
Mr Wijeweera said he was inconsolable.
‘I have no words to say how I feel. I have two children. I lost my son,” he told 10 News.
However, both parents said they could forgive Smith, but felt the law needed to change to prevent people from driving in their old age.
“She said to me, ‘I’m so sorry,’” a tearful Mrs. Smith said.
“I understand that because I know she doesn’t plan to do this.”