A heartbroken mother who was left in an induced coma and lost her unborn baby in a horror crash is still waiting for an apology from the teenage driver who avoided jail time in a landmark sentence.
Haylee Loccisano wants the girl, then 17, to understand how the head-on crash changed her life forever after the teen was recently sentenced to community service and suspended from driving for six months.
The girl pleaded guilty in Ipswich Childrens Court to driving without due care causing grievous bodily harm to Ms Loccisano and destroying the life of her unborn baby Celeste.
The grieving mum appeared on A Current Affair on Monday night with a poignant message for the teen.
‘I just want her to understand how much this has affected my life and all I want from her is just to know that she’s sorry and feels some sort of remorse,’ Ms Loccisano said.
‘It’s been our goal to have a child for years.’
‘And, I mean, we have one, but she’s just not earth side so we’d like to have an earth side baby one day.’
The teen’s sentencing a fortnight ago marked the first use of Sophie’s Law in Queensland. It meant the judge was empowered to adjust a custodial sentence on account of the death of an unborn baby killed in a criminal act.
Hailey Loccisano and her husband Connor want an apology from the 17-year-old driver who caused their unborn daughter’s death
The teen was driving a Toyota RAV4 when she veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with the Toyota Hilux utility which Ms Loccisano was a passenger in
‘I feel very lucky in a very unlucky situation,’ Ms Loccisano said
I’m very grateful that Celeste can be the first step to giving unborn babies the voice that was ripped away from them.
Ms Loccisano also read an excerpt from her harrowing victim’s impact statement to that was readout to the teen in court.
‘[After waking from a coma] I see a caesarean scar and no baby. I was leaking milk for two months and no baby,’ she said.
‘I feel as the victim only I am the one who is living a lifelong sentence.’
Ms Loccisano fell pregnant with her ‘miracle baby’ Celeste after four miscarriages due to a rare genetic disease she has which stop her body from ovulating properly.
‘I couldn’t believe my luck- it seemed too good to be true,’ she recalled.
‘And I guess it was too good to be true.’
Her husband Connor couldn’t even touch his baby daughter when she was born at 25 weeks, who was unable to be saved by doctors.
‘I was unable to hold my baby because she had to go to a Coroner’s report,’ he said.
‘So I wasn’t allowed to touch her. All I could do was look at her.’
Sophie’s Law is now in effect in NSW and Queensland.
It followed years of campaigning by Sarah Milosevic, who lost her unborn baby at 39 weeks after a drunk and drug-affected driver crashed into her car in 2014 and was later handed a fine.
‘Sophie’s Law means that at the point of sentencing, an aggravating factor can be added,’ Mrs Milosevic told the program.
‘It gives the powers to the magistrates and the judges to give that additional time to a custodial sentence.’
Ms Loccisano, then 24, was 25 weeks pregnant and a passenger in a Toyota Hilux utility being driven by her mother Teresa Burn at Purga, west of Brisbane in May this year.
Father-to-be Connor Loccisano revealed he wasn’t allowed to touch the baby before it was taken to the coroner
Haylee Loccisano expressed her frustration outside court last month after the 17-year-old driver who caused the crash that killed her unborn baby was given community service and a driving suspension
The teenage girl driving a Toyota RAV4 became distracted and veered into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision with the Hilux.
‘I guess that saying ‘life flashes before your eyes’ is very true because a million and one things went through my head in that second that I realised these headlights were coming directly towards our car,’ Ms Loccisano said.
She was rushed to hospital and whisked into emergency surgery.
She recalled being told Celeste still had a heartbeat but that it was very low.
Sadly, attempts to save Celeste via caesarean section failed and Ms Loccisano spent the next eight days in intensive care with major abdominal injuries that required several surgeries.
I thought I’d literally just woken up from a cesarean and I woke up a week later to be told that you’ve been on life support for a week, you’ve been in a coma, you nearly died, your stomach’s still open, your daughter didn’t survive and you’ve had six surgeries so far,’ she said.
In her harrowing victim statement, Ms Loccisano told the court that Celeste was her miracle ‘rainbow baby’ after she was told she could not get pregnant.
‘She was taken away from me at the hands of a reckless driver … her being taken away from me in that way has affected me in ways that are hard to describe,’ she said.
‘I remember every little detail about the accident. I remember the fear that filled my body… my baby was all of a sudden not moving.’
Ms Loccisano said her extensive scars were a daily reminder of her loss and she continued to suffer ongoing physical and mental health issues.
‘I just wish she had more justice,’ she told reporters directly after the sentencing.
‘It was not enough for the life that was taken.’
Ms Loccisano spent eight days in intensive care with major abdominal injuries that required several surgeries
Acting Magistrate Sue Ganasan sentenced the teen to 100 hours of community service and disqualified her from holding a licence for six months with no conviction recorded.
The maximum sentence the teen could have faced was one year in detention.
‘There’s no getting away from the fact that any sentence I impose will still leave the parties to deal with the tragic consequences of what has occurred,’ Ms Ganasan said.
The teen’s barrister James Godbolt told reporters outside court that his client was ‘obviously very sorry’.
‘It’s a terrible tragedy and nothing can make it right,’ he said.
After years of campaigning for Sophie’s Law, Ms Milosevic has called for more change after she attended sentencing.
She’s lobbying for minimum custodial sentences for offending that invoked Sophie’s Law.
‘(Community service) is a free ride. I don’t think she will learn anything from that,’ Ms Milosevic said of the teen driver.
Queensland Attorney General Deb Freckington will review the sentence to consider an appeal.
‘My thoughts are with Haylee Loccisano and her family, she told A Current Affair in a statement.
I have sought preliminary Crown Law advice and I am consulting with the Police Minister.’
