Crash victim Haylee Loccisano opens up on losing unborn baby, Sophie’s Law

A young woman has spoken for the first time of a harrowing head-on crash that killed her unborn baby as a 17-year-old is charged in a historic first for Queensland.

Haylee Loccisano holds a photo of her unborn baby Celeste, who was killed in a head-on car crash at Ipswich six months ago. Picture: Steve Pohlner

• What is Sophie’s Law? How does it work?

A young woman has spoken of the harrowing moment her unborn “miracle” baby stopped moving after a head-on crash, over which a 17-year-old was charged in a historic first for Sophie’s Law in Queensland.

The baby, Celeste, died just hours after a Toyota Rav4 allegedly veered on to the wrong side of Ipswich Boonah Rd at Purga and slammed into Haylee Loccisano’s Toyota HiLux just before 6pm on May 16.

Ms Loccisano was on her way home from work with her mother, travelling at about 100km/h.

The alleged driver of the Toyota Rav4, a 17-year-old Boonah girl, was this week charged with one count of driving without due care and attention causing death, with the matter expected to be the first time Sophie’s Law will be applied to court proceedings after a decade-long campaign.

Speaking for the first time nearly six months after the tragedy, Ms Loccisano – who was 26 weeks pregnant with baby Celeste after five devastating miscarriages – said she remembers looking down in the aftermath of the crash and seeing blood “gushing” from her critically injured body.

The Toyota HiLux Haylee Loccisano was in when it was involved in a head-on crash that killed her unborn baby Celeste.

“I just knew she was gone,” she said. “(Celeste) was (normally) so active in my belly … she was at that point where you would just poke my belly and she would wriggle around … (but) she hadn’t moved at all.

“There was a witness behind us, Paul, who came over … he held an umbrella over me to try and calm me down because I kept saying ‘I’m going to lose my baby! I’m going to lose my baby!’”

Ms Loccisano said she had lost about a litre of blood by the time she got to hospital.

“I blacked out in the ambulance … the next thing I remember, I was lying in the (operating theatre) … they said to me ‘we’ve done a CT scan, your baby still has a heartbeat but it’s very low … we are going to give you an emergency C-section’.”

Ms Loccisano said Celeste was delivered but sadly died about 30 minutes later.

“Once she was pronounced dead, they brought my husband into the (operating) theatre … they just had a curtain between him and I and they introduced him to Celeste … then they opened me up from my sternum down to my pubic bone and hip to hip and started to work on my internal injuries.”

Haylee Loccisano spent a week in an induced coma after the crash.

A week later Ms Loccisano woke up from an induced coma and was told the devastating news.

In a statement police said Ms Loccisano’s unborn baby had died as a result of the crash. The matter is next listed for mention in Ipswich Children’s Court on November 19.

It is the first time Sophie’s Law will be applied to court proceedings.

Sophie’s Law came about after relentless campaigning from couple Sarah and Peter Milosevic, whose unborn baby Sophie was killed when a drunk and drug-affected driver crashed into their family car in 2014.

Ms Milosevic was 39 weeks pregnant when the crash occurred.

The driver of the other car received just a $950 fine and had his licence suspended for five months due to Queensland laws not recognising Sophie’s life as a factor during his sentencing. The driver was convicted of disobeying the speed limit and being in charge of a motor vehicle while over the general alcohol limit.

Supported by Lockyer Valley MP Jim McDonald – who had long advocated for the change – the couple witnessed the law being passed in parliament in September last year. It strengthened recognition of the loss of an unborn child as a result of criminal conduct and required courts to treat such deaths as aggravating factors for relevant serious offences during sentencing.

Peter and Sarah Milosevic survived a traffic accident but lost their unborn baby. Picture: David Martinelli

Ms Milosevic said 15 other unborn babies had died in similar circumstances since Sophie’s death, including Miles, the unborn baby of Kate Leadbetter and Matthew Field, who were killed on Australia Day 2021 when they were struck by a stolen car.

A 17-year-old boy later pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the deaths. At the time, Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd confirmed that upon receipt of expert legal advice, a specific charge of Killing an Unborn Child under the provisions of the Criminal Code was not available.

“The death of unborn baby Miles will be presented as an aggravating element of the murder charge relating to the death of his mother, Kate,” he said then.

The implementation of Sophie’s Law also allows family members of the unborn child to deliver victim impact statements and expands the eligibility for funeral financial assistance to include the funerals of unborn children.

Ms Milosevic reached out to Ms Loccisano about 48 hours after the crash.

“We’ve spoken a lot, we’ve cried together,” Ms Milosevic said.

“I’m thankful that Sophie’s Law was passed in time for Celeste … this is why we fought for so many years – to give Celeste a voice. Sophie’s Law means baby Celeste counts in a court of law and will be recognised as an unborn baby and not part of a mother’s injury.

“When we started this campaign, this law was never going to be able to do anything for the death of Sophie but what it does do is give parents justice. It means their babies count, it means their baby’s funeral cost is covered, it means their baby’s name is listed on the indictment in court.

“We didn’t want any other family to feel the injustice that we felt.”

Ms Loccisano, who has since undergone eight surgeries, said she was hopeful she would be able to fall pregnant again.

“Celeste was already a miracle to begin with … I was told by two specialists (before the crash) that I could never have kids,” she said.

“It is really a matter of whether my body will give me another child or not.”

She said Celeste’s nursery was already set up and her baby shower was planned for two weeks after the crash.

Ms Loccisano said she was relieved Sophie’s Law recognised Celeste’s death and was thankful for Ms Milosevic’s support. “She has helped me through the darkest time in my life.,” she said.