A baby girl from Leigh died from a head injury after her pram was hit by a car, an inquest opening has heard. Six-month-old Sophia Kelemen was hit on the ground floor of a multi-storey car park in Tenby, south-west Wales, on January 2.
She tragically died in hospital the following day. An inquest into Sophia’s death has been opened at Pembrokeshire Coroner’s Court this morning (January 14).
Carrie Sheridan, police coroner’s officer for Pembrokeshire, said: “At approximately 4.04pm on January 2, police received reports from ambulance that a collision has occurred involving a single motor vehicle and a child’s pram. This has taken place on the ground floor of the main multi-storey car park in Tenby.”
Ms Sheridan told the court that Sophia had been airlifted from Tenby to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff. She underwent emergency treatment, but later died. The cause of her death was recorded as ‘intracranial haemorrhage’ caused by a road traffic collision.
Gareth Lewis, assistant coroner for Pembrokeshire, adjourned the inquest for further police investigations to take place. He said: “Please can I extend my sincere condolences to the family of Sophia and to all of those who are affected by these tragic circumstances.”
Sophia Kelemen, who died following a collision at a car park
(Image: submitted)
Flaviu Naghi, 33, of Irvine Street, Leigh, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance, following Sophia’s death. He is is due to appear before Swansea Crown Court on February 7.
Naghi was also arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and drug-driving and has been released on bail for these offences. Sophia’s dad Alex Kelemen, 27, told the BBC that the family were due to return home from a holiday in Tenby when the tragedy unfolded.
He said: “Just before we got to the car, the horror movie started. It’s hard to know and to think about what happened. It’s been horrific to see our little daughter being in that bed and go through all those procedures. Everybody loved her, all of our friends, our family.”
Sophia’s aunt Adriana previously told the Manchester Evening News: “We had just been together at Christmas. Sophia hardly ever cried. She was so smiley and bubbly. We used to say she was so advanced for her age.
“She really wanted to walk, and was really excited, playful and energetic. She was the cutest and most adorable girl, who had just started babbling. It’s horrible we didn’t get the chance to see her grow up or make memories with her.”
The family hope to lay Sophia to rest in Romania, where they are originally from. Two GoFundMe links have been set up – one in English and the other in Romanian – to help raise money to pay for Sophia’s funeral and repatriation flight to bury her in Romania.