William Brown Jr's Mum says she 'forgives' hit-and-run driver after guilty plea

The mother of a seven-year-old boy killed in a hit-and-run crash says she forgives the driver who left her son dead in the road.

Transcript

00:00 Abi, what can you tell us about today's events in court?

00:04 Well, Sophia, today was actually a huge day for William's family,

00:09 a day they've been waiting for since they lost him back in December,

00:12 and actually a day for forgiveness too.

00:15 Now, in court, the defendant, Stuart Powell, pleaded guilty to both charges,

00:19 one of failing to stop at the scene of a collision,

00:21 which he could get a maximum sentence of six months in prison for,

00:25 and for driving without insurance.

00:27 Now, defence argued a court order should be imposed to keep Powell's address anonymous,

00:32 the reason for fear of what may happen to him in such a tight-knit community.

00:37 He has teenagers at home.

00:38 The defence argued he has a disabled wife, and they were worried for what may happen to him.

00:43 But the bench threw this application out,

00:46 saying that actually there was no evidence that harm could come to Powell.

00:50 And after the media stood up and contested that this is a right of open justice reporting.

00:57 Now, the prosecution highlighted how William had been playing in his garden,

01:01 and a ball went out onto the road.

01:03 We know this. He went to retrieve the ball on the road.

01:06 And this is when Powell hit the seven-year-old, and it propelled him into another car.

01:10 Now, the key thing the prosecution highlighted was the contrast between the actions of Rebecca Clayton.

01:16 Now, she was in the other vehicle, the second car,

01:19 and she had three children with her in the vehicle at the time.

01:21 Now, she stopped, she got out the vehicle, she checked William's pulse,

01:25 and proceeded to try and save his life,

01:27 alongside some paramedics that just happened to be in the area driving by.

01:31 Now, it was at this point that Powell had got back into his van and driven off,

01:36 something William's mum, Laura, had to go through all over again today in court.

01:42 But actually, today, what she told us was that she forgives him.

01:46 I think he was protecting himself.

01:48 He wasn't thinking of William. He wasn't thinking of the family.

01:51 He wasn't thinking about William dead in the road.

01:54 He was just literally thinking about protection of himself,

01:57 which is really sad because if he was, you know, doing the honourable thing,

02:03 he should have stopped, he should have got out, protected William,

02:06 should have stayed, been able to speak to the police, explain.

02:09 Obviously, William was playing in the garden. He did climb out.

02:12 So, that isn't Stuart's fault.

02:14 Children do crazy things, and that's just unfortunate what happened.

02:18 But I just think his actions after have been quite callous,

02:21 but we, as a family, forgive him.

02:23 We would just love him to come together and do some restorative justice and make a change.