Court hears eight-year-old girl was hit by car on Co Antrim pedestrian crossing
A court has heard how a vehicle crashed into an eight-year-old child on a pedestrian crossing in Co Antrim.
Clifford Monteith (64), of Culnafeigh Green in Antrim, was given nine penalty points and was fined £400 on charges of driving without due care and attention and contravening a traffic sign at Oriel Road in Antrim town on Wednesday September 18 last year. He pleaded guilty.
A prosecutor told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, the girl was "jolted forward but wasn't knocked off her feet" and "received bruising to her arm and a cut to her leg" following the 3pm incident.
The defendant had driven onto the crossing despite a red light signalling traffic to stop.
The court heard he had been driving for more than 30 years and had a clear record.
Monteith told the court he had driven off a roundabout. There was a "glare" or a "blinding light" and he did not stop on time.
District Judge Nigel Broderick said: "It is obviously a mater of concern when somebody is hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing.
"Thankfully the young girl was not knocked to the ground and doesn't appear to have received significant injuries. That is quite fortunate. I am told she received bruising and cuts. I am sure it was a frightening episode for the young girl".