A WOMAN who drank rosé at the beach before crashing and killing a baby on board has avoided jail.
Stevie Steel, 24, got behind the wheel to drive her friend Morgan Kiely and her son, six-month-old Harry, home on July 13, 2022.
They had spent several hours at the beach in Clacton, Essex, beforehand, where Kiely had bought three bottles of rosé.
Steel’s ex-partner told Chelmsford Crown Court he didn’t think the women were intoxicated, but “tipsy and happy”.
He offered to give them a lift to Kiely’s nan’s house, just over a mile away, but the pair declined.
Steel, then 21, decided to drive but just two-minutes later “lost concentration” and smashed into a parked car.
Her vehicle rolled onto its roof and Harry was tragically thrown from the window.
The infant suffered a devastating skull fracture and was treated at the scene for more than an hour before he was rushed to hospital.
Members of the public had come to assist at the scene, including a paediatric nurse.
Despite the best efforts of medical crew to save his life at the hospital, he tragically died at around 9pm that evening.
The court heard the tot’s car seat had not been secured into place properly and he was not strapped into his harness.
Mr Justice Jay told the court it was “undoubtedly a tragic case”.
He added: “It’s a sad and tragic fact that accidents like this do happen as a result of bad luck.
“You could and should have taken up his offer and put aside any worries about the parking arrangements.”
Mr Justice Jay called Steel’s crash a “momentary lapse of concentration” by a young driver who had “very considerable personal mitigation”.
The defendant, now 24, broke down in tears during the hearing.
She pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving when over the prescribed limit.
Steele, of previous good character, is employed in a part-time role and has a young child with her partner.
Defending, Mr Christopher Martin, said the defendant has reached out to charities in an attempt to campaign against drink driving.
Steel was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for a year.
She has also been disqualified from driving for five years and must pass an extended test before returning to behind the wheel.
At a previous hearing, Kiely – now aged 22 – was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Judge Jay told Kiely: “Harry’s safety was your responsibility. It should have been your primary concern that day.”
He said her negligent conduct that day was a lapse in her otherwise good care of Harry.
“I think that it is obvious to everyone in this courtroom that you were a very good mother to Harry in all respects, and that this was a singleton failure,” the judge said.
The court heard Kiely had given up her job as a carer and had a four-month-old baby.
