Jurats retire to reach verdict in Pringle trial

Monday 19 June 2017

Two jurats have retired to reach their verdict in the week-long trial of Rebekah Le Gal, for her part in the death of three-year-old Clinton Pringle.

The mother-of-two (39) denies one count of dangerous driving, after her black VW van hit holidaying toddler Clinton Pringle, as she drove down Tunnel Street by Millenium Park in June last year.

Clinton was airlifted to Southampton Hospital, but died three days later due to his “catastrophic injuries”.

Crown Advocate Mark Temple argued that Mrs Le Gal had two opportunities to see the young victim – one of which was up to three seconds – and missed them both.

He argued that there was “overwhelming” evidence that Mrs Le Gal’s driving, “…fell far below the standard of care” expected of a driver, given that her handling of a mobile phone while driving – already an illegal offence – occurred as she also drove through ‘No entry’ and ‘give way’ signs – proof, he said, that she had been “dangerously distracted.” 

Moreover, he said that she had shown hints of untruthfulness in her “shifting” accounts of when the texting actually occurred.

Mrs Le Gal – a committed Christian and volunteer at the nearby Freedom Church – was supported in Court by a number of her church colleagues. Pre-empting the defence’s calls to consider her “good character”, Advocate Temple maintained that her Christianity, “…cannot be part of this case.”

But Advocate Matthew Jowitt, defending, said that the Christian would not have been dishonest, given that it would mean, “…playing with nothing less than her immortal soul.”

He pleaded with the jurats to only convict if they were, “…hand on heart, sleep easy in my bed sure”, before launching into a detailed account including CCTV and 999 call evidence of how – in his submission – there must have been “at least” 25 seconds between the text message leaving Mrs Le Gal’s phone and the collision.

Members of Pringle’s family fought back tears, as Advocate Jowitt asked the Court to fall silent for 48 seconds – the total time between the collision and 999 call - to imagine the pace of events at the time, and how Mrs Le Gal had not shown any “delay” in her efforts to assist with Clinton’s extraction from where he became trapped under the wheel.

He maintained that Mrs Le Gal would already “suffer for years to come”, and urged the jurats to agree that, “…to convict this lady on what the prosecution has said would be a travesty, a travesty.”

The two jurats, Mike Liston and Jane Ronge, have now retired to consider their verdict.