A GHANAIAN delivery driver who killed a five-year-old boy after taking a shortcut left his heartbroken mum to discover him lying on the ground.
Colin Agyei, 32, from Knottingley, West Yorkshire, was driving his Nissan Note when he struck Abdullah Ebrahim on July 7, 2022.
The little boy had been darting across Back Camberly Street in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, when he was fatally hit by the delivery driver.
Agyei was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving at Leeds Crown Court on September 24.
He was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
The court heard how the road was rarely used by vehicles and that Agyei had driven the wrong way down a one-way road to save time.
Abdullah had little time to react when he encountered the driver on the narrow back street.
He was rushed to hospital but died shortly afterwards.
In a victim statement, his mother Salma Begun said: “What I cannot understand, and what I will never forget, is that he failed to stop and left my child there.
“I will never forget the image of Abdullah lying on the floor on his own.
“That image has stayed with me for four years. It is something I carry every single day.”
In a further extract, she said: “I attended the trial and had to sit and listen to the defendant say that he did not see my son.
“I heard hid account change several times, and I felt that he was not telling the truth about what happened.”
She added that the “pain did not end with that verdict” after waiting four years for justice.
“During that time, I have had to go through this awful ordeal again and again – having to attend court, hear the evidence and relive the circumstances of Abdullah’s death has caused me enormous emotional suffering.”
Sentencing Agyei, Judge Tom Bayliss JC said: “You took Abdullah’s life when you took a shortcut down a one-way street.
“You did for no better reason that it saved you time as a delivery driver.
“The one-way system was clearly signed and you had ample opportunity to observe these signs.
“It’s a narrow street separating back gardens of two rows of terraced houses – the sort of place where children may either be playing or crossing.”
Det Sgt Steve Suggitt, of West Yorkshire Police’s Major Collision Enquiry Team, said: “This was a truly tragic incident that resulted in the death of a young boy and robbed a family of a lifetime of shared memories.
“This collision was completely avoidable had Agyei complied with the no entry sign and not driven into Back Camberley Street.
“‘Young Abdullah would not have been expecting a vehicle to be driving up the road and did not have time to react.
‘While we estimate that Agyei was driving at a relatively low speed of around 15mph, during our investigation we thoroughly tested the back street and found that because of the nature of the road you cannot drive safely on it at speeds of over 7mph.
“While he has been given a custodial sentence, I know that no sentence can ever in any way equate to the lifetime of grief that Abdullah’s family face.”