A 10-year-old schoolgirl is suing her mother for £100,000 over a drink-drive car crash which left her badly injured.
Cansu Ozkan is seeking damages from her mother Ceyda Ozkan, who crashed the family car into a tree following a drinking session at a party.
Cansu suffered serious face, back, leg and wrist injuries while her stepsister Filiz, 21, who was heavily pregnant at the time, was killed in the accident on Jan 1, 2009.
Ozkan was jailed for four years in February 2010 after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving but is expected to leave prison on licence next month.
Cansu, who now lives with her father Bahattin Ozkan in Forest Hill, south east London, is claiming compensation for negligence, papers submitted to the High Court say.
According to the claim, the accident left Cansu needing two operations on her face, two more on her right leg and surgery to her right wrist.
She then contracted MRSA in hospital, further hampering her recovery.
The injuries forced Cansu to take 12 months off school and her right leg is now nearly an inch shorter than her left.
She continues to suffer back pain and faces further surgery when she turns 18, legal documents claim.
At the time of Ozkan’s conviction, Woolwich Crown Court was told Cansu was in the back seat when her mother crashed her people carrier into a tree in Eltham, east London, after a family party.
Ozkan, who is disabled and used a wheelchair before the crash, had been drinking vodka and Bacardi and was twice the drink-driving limit when she got behind the wheel, the court heard.
Witnesses claimed they saw her driving the adapted black Chevrolet Captiva at between 60 and 70mph in a 30mph zone shortly before the crash.
The court heard that Filiz Ozkan, who was in the front passenger seat, tried to wrestle the steering wheel from her stepmother seconds before the crash because she feared for her life.
Two other adults and two other children were also seriously hurt in the crash. Nobody in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt, the court heard.
Jailing her, Judge Phillip Shorrock said: “In your bad driving whilst drunk, you were showing a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and the danger of serious harm being caused to others.”
Filiz’s mother Sebahat Yilmaz said yesterday that the crash had torn the family apart.
“Ceyda killed my daughter and we’re not in touch at all, not after that. Four-and-a-half years in prison wasn’t much for taking away the lives of my daughter and her baby. I think they should have given her more.”
source: telegraph.co.uk
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