A tearful mother has opened up about the moment her daughter was fatally struck on a pedestrian crossing, and shared her fury that the driver escaped a conviction.
Taylor Maddock, 27, and her daughter Alannah Sobolewski, 5, were hit by a Toyota Tarago while on the marked crossing in Plumpton, Sydney's north-west, at 7.15pm on March 17, 2021.
They had just fetched the evening's dinner, a Domino's pizza, and were making the short walk home to eat.
But tragedy struck after they stopped at the crossing on Rooty Hill Road North and stepped out.
'I was still holding her hand, across the crossing, and she looked and went 'mum!' and I've turned, and it was just bang!' Ms Maddock recalled fighting back tears on A Current Affair.
Taylor Maddock has opened up about the moment her daughter Alannah Sobolewski, 5, was fatally struck on a pedestrian crossing over two years ago
Ms Maddock (pictured) also shared her fury that the driver, Abel Lopez, escaped a conviction.
Ms Maddock remembers hitting the windscreen of the Tarago and rolling up.
She suffered a broken leg and spine, a shattered pelvis and a brain injury.
She needed seven surgeries and had to learn how to walk again.
Alannah was rushed to Westmead Hospital, but died later that evening.
Her aunt, Brooke Maddock, said, 'Lana was the world to her mum.'
The 'sweet innocent' girl had only turned five a month prior and recently received her first pet, a bunny called Sprinkles.
She was in her first term of primary school and wanted to be a zookeeper when she grew up.
The driver, Abel Elias Lopez, 63, faced a criminal trial in the Parramatta District Court in March 2023.
He faced two charges of dangerous driving, occasioning death and grievous bodily harm.
He was found not guilty by a panel of jurors on the dangerous driving charge on March 10.
But the judge also dismissed a negligent driving charge.
Ms Maddock angrily described the outcome as 'wrong' and 'an injustice'.
'He has taken my life away by taking away my daughters. He got away with killing my child. I don't understand how that's fair.'
Ms Maddock suffered a broken leg and spine, a shattered pelvis and a brain injury. She needed seven surgeries and had to learn how to walk again
Alannah, 5, was rushed to Westmead Hospital after the crash but died later that evening
She claimed he got off 'scot free'.
Mr Lopez said he had slowed down before the crossing and had not seen the mother or child because of the dim light, the clothes they were wearing and the glare of incoming traffic.
At the trial in front of Judge Andrew Colefax, jurors also heard that floodlights above the pedestrian crossing were not operational.
Crown prosecutors unsuccessfully argued Mr Lopez had failed to keep a proper lookout and had approached the pedestrian crossing at the speed limit of 60 km/h.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Bc3yQb2dpb1%2BJrrq4zqtkhpmUmbykt4ympqadnql6pa3UoJ%2BtnaJijq2tzaeYoWWDpK%2BwuMSwqqShXWp6p63TmqOlsV2owbPBwqRkqZ2UmsC1vsiapWaboqTAtLXNoGWhrJ2h