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Her name was Letariah Michelle Margaret Brown.
She had a little brother awaiting her arrival, a mother and grandmother ready to dote on her.
Yet Letariah – the unborn child killed when her mother was injured in a serious accident on the South Coast last October – didn’t exist within the eyes of the law.
On Wednesday the person held responsible for the accident was jailed for seven months, with a minimum term of just two months, yet her family claim they have been handed a life sentence.
Zebulon Wood was charged with negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm for the injuries caused to Letariah’s mother Tayla – yet the law could not punish him for the death of the 26-week-old foetus.
‘’The law does not acknowledge unborn babies, but we do acknowledge her,’’ grandmother Toni Brown, of Yallah, said.
‘’These babies are human, even though they haven’t taken their first breath.
‘’We bathed her and dressed her and spent two days with her, and I promised her when I held her that I’d do everything I could to get her name recognised.’’
Ms Brown said not only does she grieve for her granddaughter, but also for her daughter Tayla.
‘’No grandmother should have to bury their grandchild – now I’m watching my daughter go through such awful mental anguish.
‘’She held her for two days ... she told the nurses to take Letariah after she fell asleep as she couldn’t bear to part with her.’’
The sentence handed down to Wood this week could never go far enough, said Ms Brown: ‘’My family got given a life sentence.’’
She’s calling on law makers to take a look at the legislation covering unborn babies, to give them the acknowledgement they deserve.
It’s not the first time there’s been a call for reform, however under the Crimes Act a child is considered alive only after taking breath.
A bill called Zoe’s Law which would have declared unborn children ‘’legal persons’’ lapsed in late 2014 amid fears it could put restrictions on abortion. The push for the bill stemmed from the case of Brodie Donegan, whose unborn daughter Zoe died in 2009 after Ms Donegan was hit by a drug-affected driver while walking.
In 2001, a similar review was initiated after the death of baby Byron, at seven months gestation, after his mother Renee Shields was injured in a road rage attack.