Mum’s plea to motorist who hit Max then fled

THE mother of a schoolboy who was seriously injured in a hit-and-run today issued an emotional appeal for the driver to surrender to police.

Max Dunnigan, 13, was hit by a car on his way to Stewart’s Melville College on Tuesday morning, and was left lying in agony in the road with a broken leg as the driver sped away.

His mother, Lorna Stirling, said Max had undergone surgery on a broken tibia and fibula yesterday morning.

She said her son was still in considerable pain, and was struggling to understand how the driver could have left the scene of the accident.

She said: “It’s a terrible shock. You can’t comprehend that something so hideous has happened, that someone would hit a child and drive off leaving him lying in the road. That’s the thing that we’re all struggling to come to terms with, because obviously it could have been much worse.

“Max’s life has been greatly affected to the point where he’s in a lot of pain and he will be immobile for some time to come. It’s going to affect his home life, his school life, and I think he’s struggling – we’re all struggling – to come to terms with the fact that someone did that.

“It makes us feel extremely hurt and angry and we’ll do anything that we can to make sure justice is brought.”

Ms Stirling said that if she could issue a direct appeal to the driver she would say: “I would want to know why. I would want to know if they had children, and I would want to know how they would feel if someone did that to one of their children.

“We just want to know why, and we want to encourage them [to come forward] for the sake of Max, and for him to be able to deal with what’s happened to him, and to move on from here and not always be wondering who did this to him and to get closure, which would help his recovery. We understand that accidents happen, but what we don’t understand is why didn’t they just stop?”

Ms Stirling said she didn’t yet know how long it would be before Max was allowed to return to the family home in Dunfermline, following yesterday morning’s operation to reposition and stabilise his broken bones.

Police are checking CCTV on nearby buildings to see if any of them captured the incident, which involved a blue car, on Queensferry Terrace at around 8.10am on Tuesday. The car drove off north, towards Queensferry Road.

Police have also appealed for the driver to come forward.

A spokesman said: “We would ask that they make contact with police immediately. The area around Queensferry Road and Queensferry Terrace would have been busy at the time with parents dropping their children off at nearby schools. Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is also asked to get in touch.”

Anyone with any information can contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131-311 3131, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.