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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| Driver admits child crash killing | Driver admits child crash killing |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A man has pleaded guilty to causing the death of a four-year-old girl and injuring her mother in a hit-and-run incident in Edinburgh. | A man has pleaded guilty to causing the death of a four-year-old girl and injuring her mother in a hit-and-run incident in Edinburgh. |
| Olivia Donachie died at the crash scene near her Colinton home on 30 May. | Olivia Donachie died at the crash scene near her Colinton home on 30 May. |
| Daniel Jackson, 31, was charged with culpable homicide and failing to stop after an accident. | Daniel Jackson, 31, was charged with culpable homicide and failing to stop after an accident. |
| Jackson was high on valium, heroin and methadone when he drove his vehicle. Sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh has been deferred for a month. | Jackson was high on valium, heroin and methadone when he drove his vehicle. Sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh has been deferred for a month. |
| The court heard how Jackson slashed his wrists when he was taken into police custody. | The court heard how Jackson slashed his wrists when he was taken into police custody. |
| He had been driving a Jeep Cherokee with defective brakes when it hit the Donachies. | He had been driving a Jeep Cherokee with defective brakes when it hit the Donachies. |
| The fact that there was no braking system was not down to the collision damage Dorothy BainAdvocate depute | |
| The vehicle had been involved in two other accidents earlier that day. | The vehicle had been involved in two other accidents earlier that day. |
| Olivia's mother Rachel was critically injured and had to have a leg amputated after the crash. | Olivia's mother Rachel was critically injured and had to have a leg amputated after the crash. |
| Mrs Donachie and Olivia, who attended nursery at Bonaly Primary School, were struck just yards from their home in Westgarth Avenue. | Mrs Donachie and Olivia, who attended nursery at Bonaly Primary School, were struck just yards from their home in Westgarth Avenue. |
| Eyewitnesses described the accident scene as shocking. | |
| There was also a passenger in the car, who was questioned but never charged. | There was also a passenger in the car, who was questioned but never charged. |
| Witnesses who saw Jackson behind the wheel that day described him as "driving like a maniac". | |
| The court heard how he was a heroin addict, who had had taken valium and methadone that day. | |
| The court heard how the brakes had 11 defects | |
| He also claimed he had had heroin and 20 to 30 Valium tablets the previous night. | |
| Advocate-depute Dorothy Bain told the court Jackson was driving at about 40mph when the accident happened. | |
| "The child Olivia was killed instantaneously," she said. | |
| "The Jeep driven by the accused had struck her causing horrendous injuries." | |
| She told how witnesses did not immediately realise the little girl had been involved as her body had been dragged under the Jeep. | |
| Ms Bain explained it was only when one onlooker tried to open the door of the vehicle to switch the engine off that it became clear that the girl had been hit. | |
| She told the court that the witness "realised immediately there was nothing he could do for Olivia". | |
| Brake defects | |
| Jackson, a father-of-three from the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, had bought the Jeep with his wife about three and a half months before the accident. | |
| But he told the police the brakes had started to fail after two weeks. | |
| Ms Bain said an expert who had examined the vehicle after the crash had found it was not safe to drive. | |
| She said there were 11 defects with the brakes and told the court: "The Jeep simply had no footbrake whatsoever." | |
| She added: "The fact that there was no braking system was not down to the collision damage. It is the view of the experts the accused would have been aware of this fault." | |
| The Jeep had been involved in two other accidents that day | |
| The advocate-depute said the experts believed "jagged" bodywork on the Jeep from earlier collisions Jackson had been involved in that day, meant Olivia was dragged under the vehicle. | |
| Mrs Donachie, a mother-of-four who had given birth to her youngest child just two weeks before the accident, had gone to collect Olivia from nursery and her elder brother Samuel from primary school. | |
| One witness said Jackson appeared as if he was in a hurry to get away from someone or was being chased. | |
| The Jeep was then seen travelling in the middle of the road and on the wrong side of the road as it approached Redford Drive, the street where the Donachie family lives. | |
| A passenger in the Jeep warned Jackson: "You had better stop or you are going to hit that woman and bairn." | |
| Tradesmen working nearby estimated the Jeep was travelling at 45mph to 50mph in the residential area. | |
| Head in hands | |
| Ms Bain said they described the noise it made when the accident happened and the Jeep hit a wall as being "like a bomb going off". | |
| The advocate-depute told how people ran to the scene to try to help after the crash. | |
| Mrs Donachie was lying on the ground, while her son Samuel - who was not hurt - was distressed and was screaming "mummy". | |
| Jackson and his passenger both got out of the car and Jackson was seen walking with his head in his hands. | |
| He stopped a woman driver and grabbed her mobile phone to try to dial 999. | |
| And as his passenger walked back towards the scene of the crash Jackson was spotted going up a driveway and over a fence into someone's back garden. |