Distraught dad screams out in court as Scots lorry driver who killed daughter avoids jail

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A distraught father screamed out in court yesterday after the lorry driver who killed his daughter was spared jail. Robert Morrison insisted afterwards the ­community service sentence handed to John O’Donnell felt like Chloe “had been killed all over again”.

A court heard O’Donnell had caused the death of “beautiful and ­sensitive” nursery teacher daughter Chloe when she was struck by a steel beam sticking out from his lorry.Sentencing the 53-year-old to 100 hours of unpaid work and banning him from driving for 12 months, judge Lord Stuart said the crime “did not warrant a custodial sentence”.As O’Donnell, of Inverurie, ­Aberdeenshire, was sentenced, Robert screamed “No, no, no” at the top of his voice, and “I’m so sorry, Chloe”.

An angry member of the public slammed a door loudly on their way out.The court heard O’Donnell was driving through Drumnadrochit, on the western shore of Loch Ness, when he failed to notice a fully extended stabiliser leg protruding from his vehicle, which had a crane attached.It struck Chloe, 26, who was walking along the pavement with her mother, in the back.

Chloe, from the Inverness-shire village, was propelled 115ft and died after suffering multiple fractures.O’Donnell had driven his lorry from Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire to the north of Skye on October 24, 2019, where his load of cable ducts was taken off.He stayed overnight and said he had dropped his stabilising legs the following day because of gales, although he was not trained to do so.