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Baby boy did not stand a chance

Nate Troy Dunbar simply did not stand a chance.

The eight-month-old was sleeping in his cot yesterday when a driver lost control of the Toyota HiLux utility she was driving and crashed through a fence, then the brick wall of the little boy's nursery.

Most of the HiLux, weighing almost two tonnes, was buried in the house, demolishing the baby's room at the back of the family home in Tug Close, Merriwa.

Nate's grandfather Stephen Clarke spoke on behalf of his devastated family.

"Every grandfather with their grandsons and sons and daughters, words, I just don't have the words to express how I feel at the moment," he said.

"He was just amazing, you can see from his picture, people out there will see, the picture you see is the boy he was," Mr Clarke said.

Mr Clarke urged the public to look at the picture of his grandson, to see his bright blue eyes and appreciate how precious little Nate was.

"It's just so sad and hopefully, you see this time and time again and the picture on the TV, and the picture says the same thing - please slow down, just don't put other families through what we are going through," he said.

Nate's wide eyes were a family trait, according to his mother, Stacy Dunbar. She wrote on Facebook in October that her son was "a cute little monkey" with eyes just like those of his father, Justin.

The family's anguish began when they heard the HiLux crash through their back fence at 2.30am.

Police allege the HiLux was travelling west along Hester Avenue when it mounted the median strip and continued on the wrong side of the road, narrowing missing a tree before going through the back fence.

The corner of the home collapsed into rubble as the car smashed through the nursery into the adjoining room where his seven-year-old brother Kai was asleep.

Kai's bunk bed was pushed across his room but he was unhurt.

Neighbours said they heard a series of loud frightening bangs, then crying and wailing.

One neighbour was asleep in her bedroom metres away.

"I got up and next minute I heard the crying," she said.

Neighbours rushed to help and comfort the family and saw the baby's cot under the rubble.

"We were actually fully asleep and we heard the squeal of brakes and this almighty bang," another resident said.

"The father was on the phone to the ambulance saying 'I'm family, I'm family'. Just terrible."

They said the woman driver was screaming in distress.

"They (police) were trying to keep her calm," a resident said. "She kept screaming out 'the baby, the baby'."

Police and ambulance workers tried desperately to save Nate but he died at the scene.

Local residents Kelly Storer and Tamika Hinkley are organising a candlelight vigil for the Dunbar family at Kingsbridge Park on Thursday at 7.45am. They will sell candles to raise money for the family.

Police yesterday charged a 35-year-old Quinns Rocks woman with dangerous driving causing death.

Police are awaiting the result of an alcohol blood test taken at Joondalup Health Campus where the woman was taken as a precaution.

She will appear in Joondalup Magistrate's Court on February 11.

Anyone with information about the driver's movements before the crash is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.