Teenager admits causing Walsall girl’s hit and run death

Mr Brownsey said Katniss’ mother had struggled to leave the house since the crash, describing the impact on relatives as “very grave indeed”.

The teenager, who was convicted of taking a car in the weeks before the hit and run, was said to have driven to a nearby road where a number of other young people were.

It was there he was captured on CCTV remarking “she’s a vegetable”, the court heard.

“Katniss was seven, she was a vulnerable road user,” Mr Brownsey continued.

“A very serious aggravating factor is that [the boy] did not stop.

“He carried on, knowing what he had done. Knowing he had, in his words, left her as a vegetable.”