Mum whose baby died at just 32 minutes old after crash caused by ‘idiot’ driver says part of her died with son
A HEARTBROKEN mum has told of her agony over the death of her premature baby boy following a road smash caused by a crazed driver.
Shannon Myers, 20, was a passenger in Stephen Stennett’s Seat Leon when his girlfriend dumped him over the phone — seconds before he began tearing along “like an idiot” and ploughed into an oncoming van.
The heavily-pregnant hairdresser was rushed to hospital for an emergency Caesarean only to come round to the devastating news that tiny son Luke had died just 32 minutes after his birth.
Speaking after Stennett, 23, at the High Court in Glasgow, Shannon, of Cowdenbeath, wept: “My baby would be here today if it wasn’t for that idiot.
“A part of me died forever on that road and he walked away with a few cuts and bruises. Since then he’s been free and living his life as though nothing’s happened.
“My bairn is in the ground while he’s having a jolly — I’ve even seen him at the pub.
“I hope he goes to jail for a long time and rots in there.”
'I HOPE HE ROTS IN JAIL'
Shannon, also mum to son Caleb, three, revealed she suffered fresh tragedy a year after the crash when she lost another baby 39 weeks into her pregnancy — and fears her permanent injuries may have been a factor.
The then 18-year-old was 30 weeks’ pregnant when Virgin worker Stennett picked her and a pal up from her home to collect another mate on October 3, 2018.
Shannon — who was in the front passenger seat — said: “Caleb was being looked after and I just wanted to get out of the house, so went along for the journey.
“I would never have doubted his driving ability before, he was a sensible lad who I trusted.
“But he started arguing with his girlfriend on the phone and she dumped him.
“Something came over him and he was driving erratically like an idiot — then he shouted ‘oh no we’re going to crash.’”
Shannon saw a flash of headlights as the car smashed into the van and hurtled into a ditch on the B9157 near Kirkcaldy, Fife.
She said: “I got knocked unconscious but I remember Stephen was trying to get me out the car.
“I came around in a panic, my belly was so tight, something was seriously wrong.
“I felt like I was carrying a brick — all feeling of life had gone. I knew I had to get to hospital fast.”
Shannon frantically flagged down passing cars after escaping the wreckage and a woman driver took her to Victoria Hospital nearby.
She continued: “I remember about ten doctors running out with a hospital bed. I was scanned immediately and told I’d have to undergo an emergency C-section as the placenta had ruptured.”
Five hours later she woke up with her mum Lorraine, 43, by her side.
Shannon recalled: “I started screaming in a panic ‘Where’s my baby, where’s my baby?’.
“Mum told me the baby had passed away. I just burst, my heart broke into a million pieces.
"He was tiny, just over 3lbs, but I couldn’t even hold him close for a cuddle because I had casts on my broken arm and thumb. And even when I tried, I could only bring myself to for just a little bit.
“I didn’t know how to cope. There was so much heartbreak around me in one room.
'FORCED TO WATCH MY BABY FADE AWAY'
“I had him with me for five days until I went home. It pained me to watch my baby fade away.”
A post mortem revealed little Luke had suffered broken ribs and a fractured collarbone.
Shannon added: “He had a big bruise on his head from my seatbelt. I thought it was a birthmark.
“Knowing now that he was suffocating inside me and all his bones were broken, it physically makes me feel sick with anger and anxiety that someone so small and innocent is going through so much pain.
"It’s so much trauma.’
Luke’s funeral was held at Dalgety Bay Parish Church in Fife two weeks later, before he was laid to rest at nearby Hillend Cemetery.
Shannon and Luke’s dad, who have since split up, learned they were expecting another son months later.
The pregnancy went without a hitch but she was told the tot had no heartbeat when she went to be induced at 39 weeks in November 2019.
Shannon, who named her 8lbs son Keigan, said: “I couldn’t believe that it was happening again.
“I had to go home knowing my baby was dead inside me and wait until they could take him out.
“They don’t know if it’s because of the abdominal injuries I suffered but I’ll never want to have more kids. Stephen’s robbed me of that.”
Recalling Keigan’s funeral, she added: “I was sitting in the same seat, in the same church, listening to the same music, a year later. It was like some terrible flashback.”
Shannon said she is learning to cope with her grief after she tried to take her own life.
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She said: “I am here because of my family and friends, especially Caleb. I need to stay strong for him.
“My mum is my hero for helping me find my inner strength.
“I went to a psychic who told me Keigan was a gift for his brother, not me. It gives me comfort knowing they are at peace together.”
We told how a boy and girl, both 15, suffered broken spines in the crash.
Van driver Ian Baker, wife Clara and a 10-year-old child escaped with minor injuries.
Stennett, of Cowdenbeath, pled guilty earlier this month. Sentence was deferred.
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