A woman fled after driving into a five-year-old girl with her car while under the influence of cannabis.
Catherine Martin was at the wheel of her red Peugeot when she hit the little girl near a school in Netherton, on September 20 last year. The 29-year-old drove away but was later arrested after her registration was tracked.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard Martin had used cannabis the night before the accident and had not realised it was still in her system the next day. Luke Unsworth, prosecuting, said Martin’s car was travelling on Poulsom Drive in Netherton with another person in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
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The car then hit the little girl, who was with her mother at the time, close to Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School. The girl’s mother then approached the car to speak to Martin but she drove away after the woman starting pulling the car door.
Police later located Martin and interviewed her. At that point she admitted her role in the crash.
Mr Unsworth said: “The defendant appeared very upset and described to the police officer how she hit a child. “She said ‘I hit a child then panicked and drove away’.”
Mr Unsworth confirmed in court that the child's injuries were minor and temporary. Martin spoke briefly this morning to confirm she was pleading guilty to four driving offences, including failing to stop after an accident and driving while over the limit for a controlled drug.
She had earlier confirmed she used cannabis to deal with her anxiety and the court heard she had stopped driving in the aftermath of the incident because she realised how much worse the accident could have been. Martin, of Abingdon Grove, was disqualified from driving for 22 months and placed under a four month curfew, requiring her to be in the house from 7pm to 7am.
Today saw her return to court eight years after she knifed her ex-boyfriend outside a job centre in Everton. On that occasion, the then 20-year-old got involved in an argument between her then boyfriend David Torr and ex Anthony Jones.
As Mr Jones went to run away, Martin stabbed him twice in the back with a knife she was carrying in her bag. Torr then finished off the assault by punching the wounded man several more times before he managed to run off to a friend’s on Walton Breck Road.
Both pleaded guilty and to wounding and Martin sobbed in the dock as she was sentenced to 14 months in a young offenders institution.
