Mother’s 4x4 ‘appeared to speed up’ before hitting children outside primary school, court hears

Dolly Rincon-Aguilar, who is on trial at Kingston Crown Court, denies eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving

Some of the children were left with ‘serious’ fractures to the leg, arm and eye socket (Getty Images)

A 4×4 being driven by a mother-of-two appeared to speed up before hitting a group of children outside a primary school, a court has heard.

Dolly Rincon-Aguilar, 39, from Wandsworth, south London, is accused of mounting the pavement in her Toyota Rav4 and hitting a group of pupils and parents.

The collision happened just after 3pm on 8 September 2020, outside Beatrix Potter Primary School, in Openview, Earlsfield, southwest London.

She denies eight counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, after some of the children ended up under the vehicle following the collision and were left with “serious” fractures to the leg, arm and eye socket.

On Monday, Kingston Crown Court heard that as pupils were leaving the school, the “loud noise” of a “revving” engine could be heard by those nearby.

The green vehicle, driven by Ms Rincon-Aguilar on the nearby 20mph road, mounted the pavement and hit a tree, before continuing on to hit a wall, the jury was told.

Nathan Rasiah QC, prosecuting, said: “To their horror, the car continued and accelerated to the school entrance where a group of parents and children were stood.

“It appeared that the car continued to speed up straight towards them before coming to a stop outside the school gate.”

Two of the victims suffered fractures to the face and skull, with one requiring emergency treatment to remove a blood clot.

CCTV footage showed the incident lasted just eight seconds before the car came to a stop.

Eleven people, including seven children, were treated at the scene, with four adults and five children taken to hospital while two children were discharged.

Mr Rasiah said: “This was a seriously bad piece of driving which fell far below what is expected of a competent and careful driver.”

He added: “It’s not suggested this was intentional and the defendant plainly didn’t set about the day trying to cause harm.”

The trial continues.