Delivery driver killed boy, 5, while taking shortcut down quiet backstreet

A delivery driver ran over and killed a five-year-old boy on a narrow back street after going through a ‘no entry’ sign while taking a shortcut.

Colin Agyei, 32, drove the wrong way down one-way Back Camberley Street, Beeston, Leeds, because it saved him time on his drop-offs.

His black Nissan Note hit Abdullah Ebrahim as the youngster ran across the road, which typically isn’t used by vehicles.

Agyei claimed he was ‘oblivious’ to the collision, having kept on driving as Abdullah’s mum Salma Begum came out to find her son lying fatally injured.

She told Leeds Crown Court the horrific sight of her little boy on the ground has ‘stayed with me for four years’.

Ms Begum 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.’

The jury took just 40 minutes to find Agyei guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC jailed him for six years.

He 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.’

He accepted Agyei was remorseful and had been ‘oblivious’ to the collision.

Judge Bayliss added: ‘This was a little boy. It’s hard to imagine a more vulnerable road user.’

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Sergeant Steve Suggit 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.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.