Halifax man sentenced after innocent pedestrian was nearly 'obliterated' by jack-knifing HGV in horror crash at Queensbury junction

The unknown pedestrian was just seconds away from being “squashed” by the lorry which had been struck at the junction by a speeding Volkswagen Passat.

The Passat driver, Shaheib Mohammed, 24, was today (Wednesday) jailed for two years and eight months after Bradford Crown Court heard that his passenger that night suffered a catalogue of serious injuries including a bleed on the brain and a ripped aorta.

Judge Colin Burn was told that the injured man, who was described as Mohammed’s best friend, had declined to cooperate with the police investigation and did not want to see him sent to prison.

But Mohammed, of Clay Pits Lane, Pellon, Halifax, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and Judge Burn said his actions had been “lethally dangerous”.

The judge said regardless of what Mohammed’s friend might think now an entirely innocent pedestrian came within a couple of metres at the most of being “squashed” between the HGV and a house wall.

“It wasn’t a case of momentary inattention,” the judge told Mohammed.

“It is quite clear from the footage that you were driving at high speed down the road.”

Judge Burn said Mohammed’s offence was aggravated by the fact that he failed to give a sample of breath or blood following the crash.

Prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said Mohammed had been driving the Passat on Sand Beds at about 10.30pm on May 11 last year when he overtook another vehicle at speed and failed to slow down for the junction despite the lights being on red.

He said Mohammed and the HGV driver suffered minor injuries, but the defendant’s friend had bleeding on the brain, damage to the major arterial vessel of his chest and fractures to his ribs, breastbone and femurs.

Mr Henderson-Moore said the complainant had declined to provide a victim personal statement.

Mohammed’s barrister Erin Kitson-Parker referred to the complainant saying he did not want her client to go to custody, but Judge Burn said he had to consider the offence in the light of other road users and the pedestrian who narrowly missed being “obliterated” by the lorry.

Miss Kitson-Parker said Mohammed had “held his hands up” despite knowing that his friend never wanted to cooperate.

She said Mohammed, who had limited previous convictions, expected an immediate custodial sentence but she submitted that the judge could consider a suspended prison sentence.

But Judge Burn said there was far too many men like Mohammed deliberately driving in excess of the speed limit and well beyond their capabilities.

Mohammed was banned from driving for a total of three years and four months and he must take an extended test at the end of that period before he can lawfully drive again.