Drink driver reversed over baby girl and caused fractured skull and bleed on the brain

Mary Casey has been jailed for 20 months after hospitalising her victim

Mary Casey has been jailed for 20 months after running over her baby great-niece (Cambridgeshire Constabulary)

A woman who ran over and caused serious injuries to a one-year-old baby girl while she was drunk behind the wheel has been jailed.

Mary Casey, 34, reversed her Nissan Qashqai over her great-niece, who had been placed on the pavement, just minutes after crashing into two parked cars in Cambridge.

She had first been seen driving along Mill Road at about 7.10pm on 24 July 2022 when she decided to overtake four cars waiting at a red traffic lights, before driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

At the time, she had her two children in the back, as well as the victim and another great-niece.

CCTV showed Casey overtaking four cars at a red traffic light (Cambridgeshire Constabulary)

After turning at speed around a corner and through the no-entry signs, she lost control of her car and crashed.

Another passenger retrieved the baby and placed her on the pavement by St Barnabas Road in Cambridge, but Casey reserved the car and ran her over.

She then continued to drive in the wrong direction before stopping a short distance away when the car became undrivable due to the damage.

Meanwhile, the one-year-old was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries, which included a bleed on the brain, a fractured skull and fractured ribs.

Casey and her children were also taken to hospital as a precaution, and a sample of blood tested for alcohol content showed her to be over the legal driving limit.

She eventually stopped her car after the damage made it undriveable (Cambridgeshire Constabulary)

After pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, she was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court for 20 months and has been disqualified from driving for three years and 10 months.

PC Edd Davidson-Smith said: “This was a shocking incident where Casey has driven recklessly and has seriously injured one of her young relatives.

“The outcome was very close to being a fatality and at one point, the little girl was given six hours to live and it is only thanks to extensive medical treatment, she is alive today.

“I hope this sentence provides a warning to drivers out there who think it is acceptable to drive recklessly or once they have consumed alcohol. Casey put so many people at risk during this episode of thoughtless driving, so I am glad she has been jailed.”