The parents of a a toddler killed when he was struck by a car driven by a pensioner with dementia have spoken of their grief for the first time.
Three-year-old Xander Irvine suffered catastrophic injuries when he was struck while with his mum, Victoria Irvine, in Edinburgh on June 30, 2020. He was hit by a Kia Picanto being driven by 91-year-old Edith Duncan who was unfit to drive.
Just 42 minutes after the crash, Xander passed away at the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Victoria and Paul Irvine have told how their whole life was just “ripped away” from them in a single day.
“I don’t know how we coped to be honest, neither of us wanted to be here without him,” Victoria admitted while speaking to STV. “We have a lot of good people around us – good family, good friends and neighbours – and I think that’s the only way that we can keep going.
“We’ve always just stuck together for our boy.”
Paul added: “The house was always full of joy, laughter, singing, we were always just having a carry-on and then just that one day it was all just ripped away from us…and then the start of this life.
“For me, I just remember the silence. I sat at the window just staring out into space, for what must have been close to a couple of months.
“The whole house was just silent, no TV, nothing. We were both in shock, it was a very difficult time. It’s hard now but it was very difficult back then. There are no words that you can ever describe to anybody about how that makes you feel and how it affects your life.
“It just completely turns your life upside down. I don’t think we’ll ever come to terms with it, especially given the circumstances and knowing that had there been something in place – something a bit more robust than the current system – then we might still have our boy.”
In a Fatal Accident Inquiry last year held at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Sheriff Nigel Ross ruled that Edith Duncan ‘should not have been driving due to her dementia’ and that Xander’s death could have been avoided.
He also recommended that the current system of pensioners self-declaring they are fit and able to drive be overhauled.
In 2019, the year before the fatal collision, Ms Duncan was involved in a previous accident, a collision in a car park. She was facing prosecution for Xander’s death but died in 2021.
Paul said: “We want something important to come out of this – we feel it’s what Xander deserves.
“It’s only inevitable that something like this might happen again, more than likely will, so this is why we want to try and push the government and the DVLA to make these recommendations that the sheriff has come up with.”
Victoria said: “We don’t want something like this to happen to any other families. We’re appealing to the government and the DVLA to step up and make this a priority.”
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