Mum blasts sentence after son's road death
The Sheffield Star!
THE mum of a little boy run over by a taxi outside his house has slammed the sentence handed down to the driver after he was found guilty of careless driving.
Hishaam Mohammed, aged four, died when he was hit by the black cab driven by Ghulum Rasul, moments after the youngster and his mother Rhainehell Wilson were dropped off in Cuthbert Bank Road, Walkley.
Rasul denied driving without due care and attention at Sheffield Magistrates' Court but was found guilty by District Judge Tony Brown and banned from driving for 18 months.
The 70-year-old cabbie of more than 35 years was also ordered to pay a £400 fine and £450 costs.
After the hearing Mrs Wilson said: "They've told me that because it's at Magistrates Court, that's quite a big sentence - but it's still a life, a child, my little boy.
"I would have liked to have seen him banned for life at the very least. I don't think I'll ever get closure on this because I know he will be driving again at some point.
"The law needs to change - there needs to be tougher penalties.
"It also came out at the inquest that if the taxi had reverse sensors, there was a chance things could have been different. We are thinking about campaigning for all black cabs to have them."
Mrs Wilson said the one-day trial had been traumatic, but she lived with the events of that fateful afternoon every day.
She said: "I don't cope. I live with what happened every day, it's there all the time. Hishaam was a lovely, cheeky little boy. He was fun-loving, intelligent - he wanted to be a doctor - and very friendly."
The court heard that Mrs Wilson, Hishaam, and his older sister Namyra, seven, had been shopping in Sheffield city centre on August 6 last year and decided to get a taxi home because the children were tired.
Rasul, of Balfour Road, Darnall, picked them up and drove them home. Namyra fell asleep during the journey.
When they arrived, Mrs Wilson found she did not have enough money for the fare and told Rasul she would take her son and the shopping inside to collect the cash before returning to pick up her daughter and pay the fare.
The tearful mum told the court: "I started walking towards the flats, towards the pavement.
"My bags started ripping so I let go of my son's hand and grabbed the bag. He was a little bit behind me, and the next thing I saw is the cab coming round and I shouted to stop. Then I saw him go underneath."
Police accident investigator, PC Adrian Burgoyne, said there would be a blind spot at the rear of the taxi when using the three mirrors to reverse.
Rasul, who was also left traumatised, said he believed the little boy had gone ahead of his mother into the flat.
He said: "If the child was left behind her, she would have been looking behind for her son."
But District Judge Brown said Rasul should not have carried out the reversing manoeuvre because he could not be sure that the child was safe.
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