Cambridge Gardens accident: Lucinda King dies after being hit by truck

The distraught family of Lucinda King, who was run over and killed on her scooter, said the 10-year-old couldn’t wait to unwrap the present Santa had promised.

Ten-year-old Lucinda King was already excited about Christmas and asking her family if she could unwrap the doll Santa had promised he would bring her in the ­morning.

But on Monday afternoon the Kingswood schoolgirl lost her life when she was struck by a three-tonne council truck while racing friends on her scooter across Richmond Rd in Cambridge Gardens, near Penrith.

“Our family is distraught, my dad can’t bring himself to talk, he doesn’t know how he’s going to get through Christmas,” her brother Jacob King said.

Ten-year-old accident victim Lucinda King on CCTV in her favourite shop the Kingwood Park tobacconist where she loved to buy lollies.

Lucinda King and her father Jason.

“Lucinda was excited about presents, she wanted a doll, Christmas won’t be right this year, she was the most beautiful soul, full of energy and just a sweet, sweet cheeky child.”

The Werrington Public schoolgirl died instantly when a Penrith Council truck hit her near the Caltex service station as shocked pedestrians and motorists looked on.

“She was racing friends who were competitive to get to the other side of the road, but my baby sister didn’t make it,” Mr King said.

The 21-year-old said the family including Lucinda’s ­father Jason King, her sister Gemma, 22, and new born brother, Bradley, was devastated.

“What will we do without Lucinda at Christmas?“ We are all really shocked about it. One minute you’re planning for Christmas and the next she’s gone.”

Lucinda King on CCTV in her favourite shop the Kingwood Park tobacconist where she loved to buy lollies.

Relatives of Lucinda at the crash site. Picture: Tim Hunter.

NSW Police have refused to comment on the incident except to say they are investigating the circumstances that led to the crash. No charges have been laid

CCTV footage from the nearby Caltex service station which the little girl had just left before taking on the racing challenge is being examined by officers.

Kingswood Park newsagent Joseph Najjar recalled Lucinda as a”little “bargainer” who came to his TSG store, a block from the accident scene, for lollies without fail almost every day at 4.30pm. “She was such a poor little girl, I would give her lollies for a discount, she never had enough money,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“She was such a cheeky little girl, she would come in with $1.50 or $2 and ask for lollies that cost $4.

Nicole and Taliah Connor leaving flowers at the site of the accident. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Friend Alyssa Dransfield 12, leaving flowers at the scene. Picture: Tim Hunter

“She never had quite enough but she’d look at me with her puppy dog eyes and I’d give them to her.”

On her last visit to the store last Thursday she bargained for some M & Ms for $2.

“I wish now I had given her more, she was such a cute kid.

“So much character. I didn’t want to open my store today, I was too sad to hear what happened to her.”

A local resident described screams ringing out at the scene of the accident.

Flowers at the crash scene. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Flowers at the crash scene. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The distraught driver was holding his head and the little girl’s mangled scooter was lying in the road.

“Everyone around was screaming. Crowds were gathering around and everyone was trying to help,” an onlooker said.

“But as soon as they saw her they couldn’t. Parents arrived not long after.”

A former Kingswood Park Public school student before she attended Werrington Public, Lucinda King was described as the joker among her friends. “She was a great friend, she was really, really nice,” said one.