‘Speeding hit-and-run driver left Leeds girl, 10, permanently disabled’

A court was told Sabah Saleem and her two-year-old brother Rayhan were thrown about eight feet into the air after being struck by a speeding Vauxhall Astra being driven by Mohammed Khalil Anwar.

Anwar, 37, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court where he pleads not guilty to dangerous driving.

The prosecution claims Anwar was driving about 15mph more than the 20mph speed limit when he struck Sabah and Rayhan outside their home in Brudenell Road, Hyde Park, Leeds, on August 18 last year.

Sophie Drake, prosecuting, told the court Sabah has a “significant and permanent disability” as a result of the injuries she sustained in the collision and Rayhan had managed to recover.

She said: “The defendant did not stop, having struck the children, although it must have been obvious.

“He just carried on without slowing down and just made a turn into the next right hand turn.”

Witnesses rushed to help the children and their relatives ran out into the road and carried them inside. They were later taken to Leeds General Infirmary by ambulance.

One witness, William Murphy, described in a statement which was read to the court how he heard a “massive thud” and then saw the children being knocked eight feet into the air.

The court heard Rayhan had been carrying a bag of onions before the collision and they were left scattered in the road. The children’s shoes were also left in the road.

Miss Drake said an Astra with damage to the front of the vehicle returned to the scene around five minutes later but failed to stop.

CCTV footage, obtained from a local mosque and a property company, captured the collision and the moments before and after and the images were played to the jury.

The prosecutor said the images show Anwar failing to slow down before the collision.

Miss Drake told the jury: “I should add that the defendant has accepted and pleaded guilty to failing to stop at the scene of the accident and report that accident. What the Crown say is that he did that because he knew that he had failed to stop.”

Miss Drake said Brudenell Road has speed bumps and there is a 20mph limit along the busy residential street.

At the time of the collision there were vehicles parked on either side of the road.

Investigators concluded that Anwar would have had a restricted view before the incident, which took place at about 5.15pm. The prosecutor said: “Had the vehicle been travelling at 20mph, his stopping distance would have been reduced, thereby allowing him to take more evasive action.”

It is also claimed Anwar made arrangements to hide the vehicle following the collision.

The jury was told he was helped by others in the early hours of the next morning to take the Astra to an address at the other side of the city, in Gipton.

It was then parked on a driveway and had a plastic cover put over it.

Miss Drake said: “He did that because he knew what he had done was dangerous and it was an attempt to conceal the vehicle from the police.”

She added: “The Crown say that the defendant’s driving was dangerous on that day. He drove well in excess of the 20mph speed limit in a residential area.

“In the circumstances his driving fell far below what would be expected of a careful and competent driver.”

Anwar was arrested at his home on August 20 and Miss Drake said he admitted being the driver of the vehicle.

The car was forensically examined and found to have an orange smear on the front which came from the onion bag

Asked why he had failed to stop after the collision, the court heard Anwar told officers he had “panicked” and then arranged to get the vehicle out of the area until he handed himself into the police.

The trial continues.