Victorian parents demand change to laws so that unborn children killed in criminal cases are acknowledged as victims

A Victorian couple who lost their unborn baby in a horrific crash are advocating for law changes so the driver responsible can be charged over his death.

Elodie Aldridge was 34 weeks pregnant with her son, Remi, when a Landcruiser slammed into her car in Shepparton East in October 2023.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Couple who lost unborn baby in car accident demand change.

Elodie became trapped inside her vehicle with injuries to her hips and was then flown to The Alfred, where she delivered Remi stillborn.

Five-year-old Savannah Kemp, a passenger of the Landcruiser driven by her aunty, was also killed.

Chrystle Olivia Kemp, 27, has pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing death and another of causing serious injury to Elodie.

However, she is not facing any charges relating to the death of Remi.

This is because Victorian laws do not recognise Remi as a victim. His parents desperately want this to change.

“I held him, he was a little boy, he was a child,” Remi’s father Andrew Aldridge said.

“But in the eyes of the law, he’s a foetus and an injury to my wife.”

Within the past two years both NSW and Queensland have amended laws to recognise the loss of an unborn child due to a criminal act.

Victoria’s state government said any changes to its laws could have unintended consequences for abortion rights, as recognising a foetus as human after 20 weeks gestation could make it illegal to terminate the pregnancy beyond that point.

Elodie said she and her husband will keep fighting to ensure their son’s death was not in vain.

“My son was basically nothing in the eyes of the law,” she said.

“It’s too late for us, but if we can change it for other family not to go through it, we’ll fight for it.”

Kemp picked Savannah up from kindergarten without telling her sister and was driving her to the rural town of Dookie for the afternoon to take photos in the canola fields.

But the five-year-old was not wearing a full seatbelt or sitting in a booster, with only a lap-sash belt protecting her in the back passenger seat.

Kemp drove through a stop sign and collided with two other vehicles, hitting the brake three-and-a-half seconds before driving through the intersection of Old Dookie and Boundary Rds.

Savannah suffered neck injuries severe enough to kill her at the scene.

Tears filled a courtroom in Shepparton as two families spoke of their heartache at Kemp’s pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday.

“The feeling of loss is so great, it is visceral,” Savannah’s mother Bryana Kemp said in a statement read to the court.

“Savannah’s bed still has the same bedsheets which she slept on but the smell of her has faded.

“It is as if time has frozen in her room, a painful reminder of the absence, the thought of moving or getting rid of anything feels like erasing her memory.”

Kemp’s barrister Paul Smallwood said his client did not remember any of the “horrific” crash.

Savannah’s mother said she would never forgive Kemp, whom she said had not apologised nor taken accountability.

“Savannah died in horrendous circumstances,” Bryana said in her statement.

“This incident has caused a major rift between us and the rest of my external family, as I feel Chrystle disrespected my authority as a parent.

“The fact that she is my sister and not a stranger makes the pain even greater and the death of Savannah so much harder to comprehend.”

Elodie told the court she couldn’t help but feel guilty that she survived the crash when her son didn’t.

“It has been a year and I still can’t see a pram or child without feeling my heart break a little more,” she said.

Judge Geoffrey Chettle said the crash had clearly devastated the two families.

“I find myself sitting there reading victim impact statements in tears because it never ceases to be stark and brutal,” he said.

Kemp, who remains on bail, is facing prison time unless her legal team can successfully argue her case demonstrates exceptional circumstances.

Smallwood listed Kemp’s medical conditions, including pelvic fractures from the crash and Crohn’s disease, as he argued prison would be more onerous.

He said she would not be able to get medication, including opioids and valium, and was suffering from “overwhelming grief”.

The hearing was adjourned part-heard to November 20.

— With AAP