A mum who didn’t strap her baby into a car seat properly before her drunk friend got behind the wheel has been convicted of manslaughter.
Taylor Kiely was 19 when she travelled to Clacton beach in Essex with her friend Stevie Steel and her six-month-old son Harry on July 13 2022.
They also brought three bottles of Prosecco with them, which Kiely and Steel drank over the course of several hours at the seaside.
When the group set off home, Kiely got into the passenger seat in front of Harry in a rear seat, with Steel driving.
As they drove away from the coast, the Ford Focus rolled and ended up on its roof – with Harry thrown from his seat through an open window.
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Later that night, the baby died from ‘unsurvivable’ injuries including a skull fracture.
A key witness at Kiely’s trial said it was ‘highly likely’ the straps of Harry’s seat had not been secured before the group left the beach.
Prosecutor Alex Stein told jurors Kiely, now 22, ‘loved her child’ and there is ‘no evidence to suggest that she was anything other than a loving and caring mother’ to Harry.
Mr Stein said: ‘Whatever happened that day, she certainly did not mean for it to happen.’
A 999 call made after the collision was played to jurors.
Kiely appeared to wipe her eyes and cry in the secure courtroom dock whilst the audio was played.
Neighbours rushed out to attend the scene immediately after hearing the incident.
One of them, a retired paediatric nurse, spoke to the call handler and provided some of the immediate care towards Harry.
During this Kiely was said to have been heard saying ‘my baby, my baby, is my baby okay’.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard Steel’s former partner Mitchell Bassett had earlier visited the group on the beach and offered to give them a lift away when they were done.
Judge Robert Jay said: ‘Alarm bells should have been ringing in your head at that point.
‘You knew how much Stevie had drunk. You could and should have taken up Mitchell’s offer.
‘A mother should not agree to travel with a drunk driver.’
Steel has previously admitted causing death by careless driving while over the drink drive limit.
The judge told Kiely it was ‘obvious to everyone in this courtroom that you were a very good mother to Harry in all respects’ and the child’s dead was the result of a single failure.
The court heard the defendant had given up her job as a carer and now has a four-month-old baby.
Kiely was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence yesterday and given a two-year suspended jail sentence.
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