Mother of Wimbledon crash victim did not get a final hug

THE mother of a girl killed when a car ploughed into a Wimbledon prep school has revealed she could not give her daughter one last hug.

Nuria Sajjad, 8, died in hospital three days after a Land Rover smashed through the playground fence of The Study, an all-girls’ primary school in south-west London, in July.

Her mother Smera Chohan, 47, was at her side at St George’s Hospital in Tooting when her life support machine was turned off but her own injuries meant she had to watch from a wheelchair.

“I didn’t get to give her the last hug that I so badly miss now,” Mrs Chohan, a HR manager for Natwest, told The Sunday Times. “If I could, I would go back. Because of my own broken body and hers, I couldn’t lift her up in my arms to say goodbye. It’s never going to make sense. It is never going to be OK.”

The girl’s family, who live in Kingston-upon-thames, have now spoken out to the newspaper in an appeal to the Metropolitan Police to prioritise the investigation into the tragedy.

Mrs Chohan, who used to run the school’s parents’ association, has revealed a photograph that she took with her daughter at 9.52am on July 6 – just one minute before the first 999 call was made. Nuria had played the recorder and listed her “hopes and dreams” in an assembly before a tea party to celebrate the end of term, before she and Selena Lau, also 8, were killed and more than a dozen people injured when the car struck.

The driver of the £80,000 Land Rover Defender, a woman in her 40s, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been bailed until next month. But Mrs Chohan and her husband Sajjad Butt are

‘Because of my broken body, I couldn’t lift her up in my arms to say goodbye. It is never going to be OK’

concerned about the pace of the police investigation.

“We have started asking questions, and there are still no answers. Make this case a priority,” Mrs Chohan said.

She was in hospital for 11 days with eight broken ribs, a fractured spine, a broken shoulder and a broken pelvis. She has had three operations and a fourth is scheduled.

Det Ch Supt Clair Kelland said: “We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress, but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.”