Wigan woman high on nitrous oxide hit woman before flipping car
A teenager high on nitrous oxide knocked down a pedestrian before her car overturned and ended up on its side in the road. Louisa Tunstall, from Lowton in Wigan, was driving her white Fiat 500 along Newton Road in the town when she struck the 51-year-old woman.Tunstall, 19, claimed she had been trying to retrieve something from the footwell of her car when the collision happened on 24 May 2024.She was jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty at Bolton Crown Court to dangerous driving while under the influence of drugs.
The court heard Tunstall had veered on to the pavement before striking the pedestrian. She admitted to police that she had been taking nitrous oxide, which is also known as laughing gas and is a Class C drug that has been banned since 2023.
Tunstall's victim was left with life-changing injuries which still affect her, the court heard. In a victim impact statement, the 51-year-old said: "I remember lying on the floor and looking down at my left leg and seeing blood dripping down."I looked up and saw a white car on its side."I do not remember feeling any pain at the time. I was shouting for help, I felt like I was whispering, it didn't seem real."The victim said she was still not able to lead an active life and could not properly use her left leg.
Tunstall, of Bradwell Road, was banned from driving for two years and told that, in order to regain her licence, she would then have to pass an extended driving test. PC Stefan Bielizna, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "It is clear to see the catastrophic effects the actions of Tunstall have had on the victim."The victim's bravery... should be commended and we hope she can continue her recovery safe in the knowledge that justice has been served."It was made clear by the judge that drivers under the influence of nitrous oxide will be given time behind bars if they choose to get behind the wheel."
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Speaking about her 'teenage love affair' with her boyfriend, defence lawyer Ms Arlette Piercy said: 'There were times when she could simply not cope - she had not slept enough, she had been burning the candle at both ends, she was under too much pressure and she cracked. 'That you may think is the picture here, rather than the prosecution seeks to make of a young woman in a sense… rotten to the core, who set out on a sad sustained campaign of abuse. 'The defence assertion is one of overreach. Where she crossed the line she has pleaded guilty and has shown genuine remorse, she is not trying to walk around her position at all. 'It was also said the explanation of her lifestyle was some sort of excuse. It is not - we do not suggest it. 'It goes some way to explaining it, we say. Even those in the nursery could see that she was not herself in the week leading to June 28. She was worn out, had bad period pains, was short of energy, she was not her normally bubbly self. 'This is not an exercise in setting up excuses, it is explanations why she accepted on some occasions she crossed the line.' When giving evidence, Lecka repeatedly insisted that it was not her 'intention to cause or inflict pain' and that she did not accept 'inappropriate behaviour or rough handling'. But Ms Ayling, for the prosecution, said: 'It is clear her actions are deliberate or at the very last careless, but on most occasions we say deliberate. 'There are, of course, some clips where Ms Lecka - as we put it - keeps going back for more.' Ms Ayling told jurors it was down to them to decide if the alleged assaults are 'pinches' - or 'innocuous or innocent squeezes' which the defendant claims. The trial has heard that Lecka was working as an agency worker at Little Munchkins on October 19 2023 when the first incident of alleged child cruelty took place. At around 3.45pm, a baby room leader went to change a child's nappies and claims she heard Lecka tell another infant: 'You are so annoying.' The colleague claims she then heard the baby 'screaming' and 'crying' but Lecka claimed she didn't know what had happened when she was confronted. While consoling the child, the staff member claims Lecka picked the baby up and started 'feeling her thigh with her thumb'. When the staff member checked the baby, they found a 'big red lumpy patch on her upper thigh' and described it as a 'pinch mark'. The staff member then alerted her boss to the incident and asked for him to check the CCTV. Describing Lecka's behaviour, she said: 'She was sweating and drinking lots of water. I said "Don't worry we can check the camera". She was walking around the room, fanning herself and drinking water.' The court was told the CCTV wasn't working that day and when she saw it a week later, the view of Lecka and the child was blocked by a bookcase. The staff member told the court: 'The managers told me they told the local authority but I don't know if they did. I don't think the nursery took action. 'After a week, Roksana was back at the nursery. They were not happy with me using the word pinching,' she said. 'They said I used the wrong word, pinching. I felt they did not deal with the situation right.' The staff member reported Lecka to the police when she found about the other allegations she was facing at her new job at Riverside Nursery, which she joined in January 2024. Summing up on Wednesday, the judge reminded jurors of the alleged child cruelty against the 17 children Lecka has denied wilfully harming. Jurors heard from former colleagues of Lecka as well as from Dr Stephen Rose, a consultant paediatrician whom was the crown's expert witness. He had studied the CCTV clips and photographs taken by parents on both days where there is footage and days where there is not. When asked for his expert opinion on a child who Lecka allegedly pulled out a crib and pinched and grabbed him, Dr Rose said the 'purple discolouration would be consistent with a pinch mark.' He said: 'It would be difficult to think of a different mechanism. In order to cause bruising there must be damage, rupture to the capillaries, there must be force, the force would be provided by fingers in a pinch. Dr Rose said it was a 'non accidental injury' and that a bruise caused by pinching a toddler would be 'painful because significant force is required to rupture capillaries.' Ms Ayling said: 'We suggest on any occasion you find there is bruising that evidence applies. Significant force is required to rupture capillaries and it is that rupture that caused the bruise. She added: 'Given the fact the defendant had to be using significant force to cause bruising where she did, that she would have seen the children's obvious distress when she assaulted them or ill treated them, yet carried on, it would be obvious that unnecessary suffering was likely to result each and every time she acted in same way. 'Or she may not have cared either way whether it resulted in suffering.' The defence said there were no safeguarding concerns about Ms Lecka before June 28. The head teacher at Riverside told the court how she brought Lecka pink roses to say how well she was doing in late May or early June. But the prosecution say the 'punching' incident on June 28, plus the 'bad treatment' of other children that day, 'gave staff grave cause for concern'. The head teacher reported the matter to the local authority, and the police attended on July 3 and began trawling through the CCTV. In closing arguments, Ms Piercy said there were 400 hours of CCTV which a 'small army of officers painstakingly reviewed from every angle.' 'Every step she took, every child she picked up, every nappy she changed', she added. Ms Piercy added: 'In our society, there is particular venom reserved to those who anyway mistreat the youngest and most vulnerable of our community.' 'Roksana has pleaded guilty to a number of offences which fall into that', she said, adding jurors 'will not like what she admitted to doing' and that it will have 'discoloured' her character. 'You are not here to like Roksana Lecka, you are here to judge her fairly on the evidence and in accordance with your oaths,' she said. Jurors were told most of the alleged incidents took place in the 'baby room' at Riverside Nursery, while some occurred in the 'baby sleep room' where infants lie in cots. The nursery follows the Montessori method of teaching, involving children's 'natural interests' instead of formal practices. The trial continues.
