Tearful testimony surrounding roadside death of young Girl Guide

Tears were flowing inside a London courtroom on Tuesday as a witness recalled the crash that killed a young girl and injured seven others.

Kelli Norton, a Girl Guide volunteer and leader testified that she was out on a field trip with a group of young girls walking along Riverside Drive approaching the intersection at Wonderland Road at around 6:50 p.m. on the night Nov. 30, 2021, when things turned deadly.

Norton told the jury, “My eye went to this car that was taking the corner way too fast.”

She continued, “They appeared to leave the road and at that point I panicked and had this awful feeling that something terrible was going to happen…the headlights were coming straight at us, there was nothing I could do.”

Norton said the vehicle crashed into them, “I turned...I scanned back at everyone who was with me and everyone was on the ground.”

Norton told the jury she was frantically racing around looking for someone to help. The first motorist she stopped drove off but eventually others pulled over to assist.

“It was all so overwhelming because I continued to flag down people to help while dealing with the kids,” she said.

Eventually, emergency crews arrived. However, it was too late for an 8-year-old girl who had stopped breathing.

She was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Police questioned 78-year-old Petronella McNorgan at the scene and she was eventually charged with one count of criminal negligence causing death and seven counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

In court on Monday, she pleaded not guilty before the judge and jury.

Later in the day, another witness, John DeSumma, testified about being at the intersection at the same time. After he saw what happened, he called 9-1-1.

”I just said, ‘There’s a horrific accident here,’” DeSumma told the jury.

Then he noticed the accused across the street near her vehicle and when he questioned her about what happened, “She said her brakes failed...she looked confused to me, like she wasn’t all there.”

A ban on publication has been placed on identifying any of the young victims in the crash.

The Crown’s case resumes Wednesday.