Woman accused of running down tot on trial

The drunk-driving trial for a woman accused ofrunning down a young girl and her aunt, who were feeding a horse at the side of a road, began in a Surrey, B.C., courthouse on Monday.

Carol Berner, 57, facesfour charges,including impaired driving causing death and bodily harm, and dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm.

Berner was charged months after the May 17, 2008, incident in Delta, a suburb of Vancouver, that killed Alexa Renee Middelaer, four,and seriously injured her aunt.

The little girl had been feeding a horse in a roadside corral when Berner's car allegedly careened across the grass, hitting her and her aunt. The vehicle thenstruck a parked car, in which Alexa's grandparents were sitting, before coming to rest against a hydro pole.

The people in the parked car suffered minor injuries.

The aunt testified in court on Monday about taking her niece to feed horses along the side of 64th Street in the 4300 block.

'We saw our daughter laying there and have been traumatized by what we saw that day.' Laurel Middelaer, Alexa's mother

She told the court she heard a terrible noise and saw a car speeding towards them sideways before it struck her and her niece.

Crown prosecutors have said they expect to call 22 witnesses to testify, including officers involved in an undercover operation.

The court heard that during the operation, undercover officers posed as a couple and befriended Berner. They recorded conversations of her talking about the crash.

Laurel Middelaer, Alexa's mother, was in the courtroom Monday, along with other family members. All were wearing purple, Alexa's favourite colour.

Middelaer said hearing about the day her daughter died is difficult.

"The first face-to-face [with Berner] was really difficult and resisted the urge to lunge so I'm quite proud of myself about that," she said.

"It's really hard to relive all of the scene again. We were on the scene, many people don't know that, but we saw our daughter laying there and have been traumatized by what we saw that day."

Alexa's death spurred her parents to create awards for B.C. police officers who target drunk drivers. The province has also unveiled tougher rules to get impaired drivers off the road.