Wick mum’s ‘shock’ that driver avoided jail over crash that killed boy (2)

The mother of a Wick toddler killed in a devastating car crash in Caithness has said it is “shocking” that the driver who caused the crash was not jailed.

Sonya Henderson admitted causing the death of little Iain Mackay (2) by careless driving in the incident at Occumster in August 2021. She was sentenced at Wick Sheriff Court last week and given a 200-hour community work order and a 25-month driving ban.

The court heard that the fatal crash occurred on the A99, 12 miles south of Wick. Henderson’s car entered the wrong side of the carriageway into the path of an oncoming car, in which Ashlyne Mackay and her son Iain were passengers.

Emergency services arrived on the crash scene and Iain was taken to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow before being transferred to Aberdeen, where his mother could be with him while his life support was switched off.

Now Ashlyne, who was seriously injured in the crash that killed her son, has criticised the sentence dished out at Wick.

She said: “I am deeply saddened by the outcome of Sonya Henderson’s sentencing hearing.

“It is shocking to me that she has escaped a custodial sentence for killing my son Iain.

“She has never apologised to me for what she did and it has taken her years to stop blaming others and admit her guilt.”

In the statement, issued via lawyers Digby Brown, she added: “The hearing and its aftermath has brought everything back to me as if it was only yesterday I lost Iain.

“This is another incredibly difficult time. I am so grateful for the public sympathy for me, and again for the support of my family. They mean the world to me.”

Henderson’s solicitor James Mackay told the court that Henderson was remorseful and wished she could exchange her life for that of the youngster. He added that words could not express the loss of a young life in what was “a terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Sheriff Neil Wilson said he had to take into account the fact that Henderson, of Lybster, was a first offender who had taken responsibility for her actions and avoided the need for a trial in what was “an extremely serious matter.”

He expressed his condolences to the Mackay family “in their unimaginable grief”.

Ashlyne is suing Henderson for compensation due to the impact the crash has had on her life.

Henderson has been approached for comment.