British ‘drunk driver who killed baby in crash’ suffers PANIC ATTACK in Lanzarote court before hearing is dramatically adjourned
THE British ‘booze driver’ accused of causing the death of a four-month-old girl in Lanzarote suffered a panic attack in court today.
The hearing was suspended after a doctor ruled British expat Olivia Brown, who lives on the island, could not answer questions.
9
9
9
9
9
The 23-year-old is being investigated for manslaughter and drink-driving after being identified as the driver drove into a group of pedestrians on Monday evening.
The baby’s parents and maternal grandparents were among six people injured after a car mounted a sidewalk at the resort Playa Blanca.
The mother’s father and grandmother are still in intensive care.
HEARING ADJUDGED
Brown was brought to court in a police van today, but the hearing was later adjourned.
A doctor ruled that she could not be properly questioned because she appeared to be suffering from an ‘anxiety attack’.
An investigating judge has released her on bail while a new date is arranged.
A spokesperson for the judge presiding over the closed hearing at a court in Lanzarote’s capital, Arrecife, said: “The suspect appeared before Arrecife’s number one court of inquiry this morning but was unable to testify due to an anxiety attack.
“The forensic examiner ruled that she was unable to make a statement so an attempt will be made in the near future.
“For now, she has been provisionally released as suspected author of an offense of manslaughter and another offense of driving under the influence of alcohol, poisonous drugs, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances under Article 379.2 of the Spanish Penal Code.
“As a precaution, she is required to report to court on the 1st and 15th of each month, has had to surrender her passport and is prohibited from leaving the national territory.”
A well-placed source adds: “The decision was in line with the position of the public prosecutor.
“The public prosecutor present at the hearing did not demand her pre-trial detention.”
The suspect has not yet been formally charged with any crime but has been given an ‘investigada’, which under Spanish law means she is being formally investigated in an ongoing criminal investigation.
The expat was helped to sneak into the courthouse through a back entrance just after 9 a.m. local time, instead of having to walk through the front door.
Her quiz would take place behind closed doors, as is customary in Spain, where only trials are held in public.
A well-placed source said this morning that a pre-trial detention is unlikely, despite the seriousness of the charges she faces, because she lives in Lanzarote and has links to the island and is unlikely to be considered a flight risk if she is banned from to leave. and hands in her passport.
INJURED BRITISH STILL IN HOSPITAL
It comes when the dead baby’s relatives arrived on the island and went straight there Doctor Molina Orosa Hospital in Arrecife where the four were injured British to be taken care of.
A source said: “The father and maternal grandmother remain in intensive care but will both pull through. Their lives are not in danger.
“The other two British nationals, the baby’s mother and the baby’s maternal grandfather, are also still in hospital, but in a ward.
“They were all aware that the little girl, who was four and a half months old, had died from the first moment despite their injuries and they are clearly completely devastated.”
Another source added: “The baby’s paternal grandparents came in Lanzarote yesterday afternoon and went straight to the hospital.
It was previously said that the child’s father was in critical condition.
Yaiza’s mayor Oscar Noda has confirmed that all four Britons injured in the accident remain in hospital.
Mr Noda said: “The accident caused seven casualties, including the five-year-old baby who died.
“The survivors came from two families, one from Sweden and the other of British descent.
“They are the parents of the deceased child and the maternal grandparents of the baby.
“Those in the worst shape this morning are the baby’s father and the mother’s grandmother. All survivors are still in hospital.
“We hope they all recover.”
DRIVER ‘POSITIVE FOR DRINKS AND DRUGS’
Police say Brown was over the legal limit when her “out of control” car crashed into a group of pedestrians Monday night, killing the baby.
The head of the Yaiza Municipal Police, Vladimir Guadalupe, said: “The investigation is still ongoing and could last another week.
“The legal limit for alcohol is 0.25 and this person has exceeded that limit and the charges will reflect that.”
The town hall of Yaiza, which covers Playa Blanca in southern Lanzarote, where the accident occurred, said in a statement that the driver “showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol and drugs”.
A spokesperson for the town hall subsequently said that she had tested positive for both drink and drugs at the scene.
The other two people injured Monday evening, also pedestrians, were a Swedish mother and daughter who had only just arrived in Lanzarote.
The younger of the two women, a 34-year-old, was airlifted to a hospital on the neighboring island Gran Canaria.
Insiders today said the female Ford Fiesta driver, who moved to Lanzarote as a child, was traveling from her home to work when she crashed. It is believed that she works at a local hotel.
Officials also revealed that the British family were heading from a supermarket to their holiday villa when they were hit.
The driver told police at the scene that the steering wheel of her car was blocked.
A source close to the ongoing investigation said before her adjourned court hearing today: “She has locked herself in her house and switched off her phone.
“Like the victims of the crash, she has also received professional help to help her cope with the enormity of what happened.”
Playa Blanca, White Beach in Spanish, is Lanzarote’s southernmost town, about a 40-minute drive from the island’s airport.
The coastline around Playa Blanca is essentially one large, six mile wide bay which is then divided into three smaller, but still large, bays.
Just last month, an 83-year-old British tourist died after being run over by a bus in Lanzarote.
She was taken to hospital in a ‘critical’ condition on February 21 after being hit by the vehicle in the popular resort of Costa Teguise and stabilized at the scene.
And last September, two Britons were among the seven injured when a British holidaymaker burst into a crowded Spanish cafe in his rental car on the neighboring Canary Island of Fuerteventura.
9
9
9
9