Eight-year-old girl lucky to be alive after Hawick road accident, says her mum

Burnfoot Community School pupil Jessica Kennedy was chasing a football and ran out into the road between two parked cars when she was hit by a blameless passing vehicle in Burnhead Road, her home street, on Thursday afternoon.

She was taken to the Borders General Hospital at Melrose and treated for bruises before being discharged.

Her mum Kirsty Hunter admits her daughter was fortunate to have escaped with her life.

She is asking other parents to show their children a picture of Jessica’s bruised and bloodied face, so it can act as a lesson and deterrent to them.

On her Facebook page, Kirsty says: “She is doing well after the accident, just crying that she wouldn’t make it to school to do her maths the next day.

“She’s very bruised and scraped but thankfully not a lot worse.

“She’s bubble-wrapped now until the day I’m no longer able to.”

Kirsty said she hoped her daughter’s frightening experience would be a warning to other youngsters.

She added: “Show your kiddies this picture and explain how lucky she is and that they really must double-check roads at all times, and if your ball crosses the road, then you don’t.

“She ran out between parked cars in front of the car after her football, and I cannot count the amount of times I have told her you always look first.

“I don’t blame the driver at all, there was no way they could have expected that to happen. Her ball went out into the road, and she ran between parked cars after it and the car hit her.”

A Burnfoot Community School spokesperson said: “We are very relieved to say that Jessica, who was run over on Thursday night on her way home from school, has left hospital and is on the mend.

“She is a very, very, very lucky girl.

“Thank-you to everyone who looked after her on Thursday.”