Colin Agyei, 32, has been jailed for six years for causing the death of five-year-old Abdullah Ebrahim, who he struck while driving on a road not meant for vehicles in Leeds. The jury took just 40 minutes to convict him of causing death by dangerous driving.
Fatal collision on Back Camberley Street
Agyei, of Pear Tree Grove, Knottingley, was driving a Nissan Note on Back Camberley Street, Leeds, on July 7, 2022, when he hit Abdullah as the boy ran across the road. Agyei had driven past a no entry sign before the collision. Abdullah died in hospital a short time later.
At Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, September 24, Agyei was sentenced to six years in prison. He had admitted a lesser careless driving offence but was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
Family's statement and police reaction
Abdullah's mother said in a statement: "I attended the trial and had to sit and listen to the defendant say that he did not see my son. I heard his account change several times, and I felt that he was not telling the truth about what happened."
She added: "The jury took only around 40 minutes to find him guilty on all counts. For me and my family, however, the pain did not end with that verdict. We have waited four years for justice."
Detective Sergeant 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."
Investigation findings
He added: "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."
Police estimated Agyei was driving at a relatively low speed of around 15mph, but testing of the back street found that because of the nature of the road, it cannot be driven on safely at speeds over 7mph. Suggitt noted that no sentence can equate to the lifetime of grief Abdullah's family faces.
