Earlsfield school crash: Woman who ran over children and parents fined £3k

A mother on the school run who ploughed a 4x4 vehicle into children and parents outside a primary school in south-west London has been fined £3,000.

The crash, which injured 11, was described by a judge as "every parent's worst nightmare".

Dolly Rincon-Aguilar, 39, hit the group outside Beatrix Potter Primary School, in Earlsfield, in September 2020.

She was convicted of careless driving but cleared of eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court took just under three-and-a-half hours to reach the guilty verdict, rejecting the alternative charge.

Judge John Lodge described the crash, just after 15:00 GMT on 8 September 2020, as a "traumatic tragedy" that caused "pain and suffering" to the injured, but said it had not been a "deliberate act".

He said a fine "may seem inadequate to those who are suffering", as he ordered Rincon-Aguilar, from Wandsworth, south London, to pay a £3,000 fine and £930 costs, and have six penalty points added to her licence.

A seven-year-old boy who had his back to the car was knocked into the air during the crash, the trial had heard, while others as young as six were trapped under the vehicle.

Eleven people, including seven children, were treated at the scene by medics. Four adults and five children were taken to hospital, while two children were discharged.

Two victims had fractures to the face and skull, with one requiring emergency treatment to remove a blood clot. Some of the children were left with serious fractures to the leg, arm and eye socket, jurors heard.

The judge told the mother-of-two: "Anyone who has been in this court throughout the course of this trial cannot fail to consider the circumstances to be probably every parent's worst nightmare, and every parent in this case includes you.

"No-one is in dispute that this was a deliberate act on your part, albeit a mistake with tragic consequences."

Jurors were told that Rincon-Aguilar had pressed the Toyota Rav4's accelerator instead of the brake as she tried to stop the car.

On Wednesday, Rincon-Aguilar became tearful in court as she apologised to the victims and their families.

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