A ten year old child who was left with devastating injuries after her mother drove into a tree while drunk has launched a compensation claim against her for £100,000.
Cansu Ozkan was sitting in the back of a people carrier two years. Her seven month pregnant step sister, Filiz, was in the passenger seat, and her mother was driving. The three had been attending a family party and mother Ceyda Ozkan, now 34, was over the legal limit.
Mrs Ozkan drove into a tree in Eltham. The accident resulted in the death of Cansu’s step sister, and Cansu herself suffered severe injuries.
As a result of the crash she needed two operations on her right leg and face, and an operation on her right wrist. She was unable to attend school for a year and her recovery was slowed down due to an MRSA infection.
According to legal documents, she suffers back pain, will need to have further surgery when she turns 18, and one of her legs is an inch shorter than the other.
She now resides with her father in Forest Hill.
The papers state her mother, who is disabled, was drinking vodka and Bacardi mixers and was twice the legal limit before she got in the car.
Witnesses say she was driving over double the 30mph speed limit before the crash.
She was sentenced to four years in prison.
The judge 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 birth mother, Sebahat Yilmaz, said: “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.”
