A BOY aged two was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver and dragged for 300 yards after crossing a road with his teenage aunt to buy some sweets.
Joshua Berrill was left in the middle of the road as the driver of the sports car fled the scene in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham.
The boy’s aunt, Millie Robinson, 13, was flung in the air by the impact and suffered a broken leg. The two were taken to hospital after the collision on Wednesday evening. Joshua was pronounced dead yesterday morning.
Nona Robinson, the child’s mother, who is five months’ pregnant, fought back tears yesterday as she told how she cradled her “little angel’s” body in the hospital.
She said: “All I wanted to do was pick him up in my arms and take him home, but I will never be able to do that again. He was just going to the shop to get some sweets but he will never be coming back.
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“As I held his lifeless body in my arms he looked like he was going to wake up but I know that will never happen.”
Joshua had been staying at his grandmother’s home to give his mother the opportunity to have a good night’s sleep. Shortly after 7pm, Millie took her nephew by the hand to buy some sweets. But Joshua slipped from her grasp and as he wandered out into the road she desperately tried to grab him. They were hit by the white H-registration Toyota MR2 sports car.
The child became entangled with the vehicle and was dragged along the ground. When the car came to a halt the boy was left slumped in the road opposite a curry restaurant and some recycling bins. The driver then sped off before dumping the car two miles away in Bromford.
Rosa Robinson, 43, Joshua’s grandmother, said that Millie had not been told of Joshua’s death because she was still in shock. “Millie told us from her hospital bed that he had let go of her hand for just a split second and took one step out into the road,” she said.
“She saw a white car racing towards them so she put her arm around him to gather him up, but it was too late. She said the car was speeding towards them so quickly they didn’t stand a chance to get out of the way.
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“Millie was thrown into the air but Josh was somehow caught in the car and dragged along the road. It’s just too sickening to think about as he was dragged for hundreds of metres before the car stopped and he was left on the road.
“I’m really worried about her because she thinks that it is all her fault — she has to live with the experience for the rest of her life and she is only a baby herself.”
Miss Robinson, 21, added: “He was a proper little boy, always into something, always causing mischief but he was so loving and my little angel.
“The person who did this is just so cruel, they have destroyed my life and nothing will ever be the same again.
“I hope someone knows something and will speak up to put this animal behind bars before they have a chance to do something like this again.”
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Residents in Burney Lane, where the accident happened, claimed that motorists raced along the road at speeds of up to 70 mph. Sabir Hussain, who has lived in the road for seven years, said: “This is a 30mph limit, yet drivers regularly race up and down at 70mph.”
Yesterday police arrested an 18-year-old man from the Ward End area of Birmingham on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.