A tragic schoolgirl was mown down and killed in front of her family just minutes after celebrating her sixth birthday party, an inquest heard.
Daisy-May Brooks ran into the road as she played outside her home moments after cutting her birthday cake and was struck by a Honda Civic as her brother and two sisters helplessly looked on.
The youngster was rushed to hospital after the collision on May 12 this year, but died of multiple injuries a short time later.
Earlier that day Daisy-May had been celebrating her birthday at her home in Wolverhampton, West Mids., with 20 family and friends.
An inquest into her death heard on Monday how Daisy-May was hit as she had been waiting outside to go to the park after playing pass the parcel with her school pals.
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain ruled that the collision, which happened at 5.15pm, was “probably unavoidable”.
He said: “Daisy-May ran, or walked quickly, into the road in front of a vehicle and was in collision with another vehicle, in which the driver had no opportunity of seeing her.”
Driver Claire Reynolds told the hearing at Smethwick Council House that she had not seen the youngster who stepped out from behind a parked 4×4.
Her heartbroken parents Helen Brooks, 34, and Simon Davies, 37, told the inquest life would never be the same without their “bubbly“ daughter, who was known affectionally as “Pud”.
They revealed how their other children – Liam, ten, and sisters Chelsea, 12, and Hollie, eight – were still haunted by Daisy-May’s death every day.
Helen said: “The best thing you can say is you just take every day as it comes.
“We’ve got the other three children so you have to get on with it, simple as that.“
Speaking after the inquest Helen said Daisy-May had “loved” her party.
She added: “She had just had her party and she loved it, it was a brilliant day.
“The kids played at the house and then we took them all over to the park for an hour or so.
“We came back and played pass-the-parcel, and cut the birthday cake.
“The party had pretty much finished then. About ten to 15 kids had congregated opposite where our car is.
“She wanted to go to the park opposite – that’s why she was out of the house.”
Devastated dad Simon also paid tribute to his daughter afterwards and said: “She was a fun-loving six-year-old, a very bubbly character, as everybody who knew her in the area would say.
“She was funny and cheeky.
“Her nickname was ‘Pud’ because after she was born we bought her a musical Christmas pudding hat and the name just stuck. We have still got that hat.
“The school has been golden and so has the community, friends and family.
“The kids were all there when it happened and they are still suffering in their own way.“
Verdict: accidental death.
