After seeing an uninsured driver smash into his infant baby’s pram, a distraught father yelled at him, ‘You just killed my kid,’ a court heard.
James Paul Davis, 35, is charged with the murder of 18-day-old Ciaran Leigh Morris, who was killed on his first trip on Easter Sunday last year. Davis was driving a BMW at 67 mph in a 30 mph zone when he collided with the pram being pushed by parents Camaron Morris and Codie Holyman, according to a court hearing.
Davis told police during his arrest, according to bodycam footage shown in court, that he fell out at the wheel and fled the scene since others informed him he had murdered a child and he wanted to see his own kid before being brought into jail.
Camaron and Codie, both 18, were horrified when the car climbed the curb and slammed the pram against a wall in Brownhills, Walsall, West Midlands.
Witnesses were terrified as they urgently tried to resuscitate the child, who died hours later in the hospital from his wounds. Caine Edwards, an eyewitness, was strolling with his companions on Brownhills High Street when the accident occurred.
He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that he heard an explosion and saw a car steering towards, struck the pram and hit the wall. He was in disbelief. He heard Camaron yell, ‘You just killed my son!’
Daniel Kennedy was a passenger in a white Ford B-Max that was hit by the BMW seconds before the deadly incident. He said in court that he chased Davis down the street while Camaron and Codie urgently sought to save their infant boy.
Mr Kennedy told jurors that it seemed like consistently was a moment. He chose to pursue the driver. He was high on adrenaline. He wanted to take a clear picture of his face using my phone. He knew he could run till it was over, and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He got a good photo of him (Davis) in the Tesco parking lot. He noticed him on his hands and knees, short of breath.
Davis, according to jurors, was driving without insurance or a permit and had traces of cannabis in his system when he crashed into Ciaran’s pram at 4 p.m. on April 4, last year. Ciaran’s distraught parents could be heard crying ‘the baby, the baby’ as they desperately sought to resuscitate their son on the sidewalk.
Jenny Butler, a tattoo artist, spoke in court about how she observed the incident, which occurred just metres from her store. She claimed she watched the BMW mow down people on the sidewalk and smash the baby’s pram.
Dean Athersmith, another witness, told the court that he overheard Davis contact his girlfriend after the collision and tell her he had ‘run over a kid.’
He continued to see a man running towards them. The man appeared rough, as if he had been in a fight, and he had blood flowing down his leg. He was enormous and kept pulling up his T-shirt to reveal his stomach.
He explained to the witness that he just ran over someone and needed to call his missus since he is going to be down for a long time. The witness said that he wouldn’t give him his telephone, yet he saved the telephone number. The number just rang out and afterward he attempted once more and a lady replied.
David said to her, “I’m terribly sorry – I’ve run over a baby, I’ve murdered it, please care after my kid,” which led the witness to believe he was the father of a child.
Members of the jury heard Davis tell a cop his companion who was in the front seat watched him ‘shut down’ minutes before the deadly accident. Police bodycam film which was played to the jury shows Davis telling PC Tom Rust: ‘A child!!! Please accept my apologies bab. I passed out, I was doing 20mph. I wasn’t speeding or nothing. I passed out. I ain’t killed nobody deliberately.
Wounds to my legs are from going through the shrubs. I realized I passed out on the grounds that I realized it was working out – it resembled a fantasy. My legs have been injured as a result of rushing through the bushes. I knew I passed out because I was aware that it was occurring – it was like a dream. I thought I’d wake up in a minute. I heard the hammering and other noises. When everything all came to a halt, I was in my car, wondering what was going on. I was surrounded by people. My friend stated I passed out behind the wheel. I’d be in a lot of trouble if I was speeding, wouldn’t I? If someone dies, I understand that I will go to prison.
Shortly after the collision, the father-of-one was apprehended at his girlfriend’s house. He expressed that individuals were yelling I killed a kid, so I just wanted to see my baby before I leave.
According to the court, Codie sustained a broken collar bone and a bruised foot in the incident and suffers from chronic back pain. Davis, of Bloxwich, West Mids., denies causing death by hazardous driving, causing death while uninsured, and causing death through careless driving.
The trial is still ongoing.
May the baby’s soul rest in peace. Praying the family finds peace, comfort and strength to bear the unimaginable loss and pain.
