Driver who hit boy was speeding

SHAHZAIB HUSSAIN

A HIT and run driver from Oldham who knocked down an 11-year-old boy who had just left prayers at his local mosque, was travelling at twice the legal speed limit at the time, a court has been told.

Shahzaib Hussain was crossing a road behind an uncle and in front of his father when he was hit by the Mercedes A-class car and hurled into the air sustaining injuries that proved fatal.

A trial jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard that it was not disputed that the youngster stepped into the road, but Michael Morley prosecuting, said it was the Crown's case that 20-year old Henry Barker who was behind the wheel, was driving dangerously.

He said that Moss Street West, where the accident happened on February 29, was a narrow back street flanked by residential and business properties, and subject to a 20mph speed limit.

He said on the day, Barker had been driving at more than 40mph as he approached the junction with Mowbray Street where parked cars further reduced the width of the road.

Concerned

The jury was told that motorist Talal Raja who had been sitting in his own car on Moss Street West at the time, had been immediately concerned at the way the Mercedes was being driven as it was not only speeding, but swerving to miss cars parked on the street.

Mr Morley said the Mercedes had been fitted with a telematics monitoring device which periodically records data including the vehicle's speed, and it was shown to have been travelling at almost 46mph on the road at one point.

Barker of Hampton Road, Failsworth, pleads not guilty to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

The jury has been told he had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

Mr Morley said however: "We say that the defendant was not only exceeding the speed limit. We say that his driving at those speeds on a narrow back street can be properly described as dangerous."

He said there was no dispute that Barker had been aware that he had collided with a pedestrian, but he did not stop and drove away from the scene.

He handed himself in to officers at Ashton police station the following day after a media appeal when news of the incident was reported.

He said the child had "run out of nowhere" and told police he had panicked after the collision.

In a formal statement he later claimed that he had not in his mind, been speeding at the time, repeating his assertion that the boy had run out in front of him, and in his view he could have done nothing to avoid the collision.

(Proceeding)