Parents’ agony over girl, 8, killed in tea party car crash
THE parents of a girl killed when a car ploughed into a tea party at a prep school have spoken for the first time about their loss.
Nuria Sajjad, eight, was taking a photograph with her mother when a Land Rover Defender careered through a fence at The Study Prep in Wimbledon, south-west London.
Several other children were taken to hospital injured while another eight-year-old, Selena Lau, died at the scene in July.
Nuria’s mother Smera Chohan, who had surgery for her own injuries, told BBC London: ‘My mind goes blank. I didn’t see anything come at me. Because if I had, I would have protected my girl. So I wake up every morning thinking “Could I have picked her up and done something? I didn’t see the car come. I didn’t save my girl”.’
Nuria’s father, Sajjad Butt, who witnessed the crash when going to grab a coffee, said he remembered screaming and pain and went into shock before finding Nuria in a severely injured state.
‘What we are left with is a deep hole,’ he said. ‘It is difficult every day to wake up. It is difficult to sleep. At the deepest, deepest level, there is no purpose. We lived for our daughter and she lived for life.’
A 46-year-old woman from Wimbledon, who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, has been bailed until January. Ms Chohan has questioned the delay in the case, saying: ‘For it to prolong and leave us with just questions and questions ... whereas I feel two girls have just lost their lives. If that is not a priority, then what is?’
Mr Butt said: ‘We understand that this needs to be done properly. From our perspective the challenge is that dozens of people witnessed what happened.
‘I don’t think there is any doubt about what happened. This isn’t fair. This isn’t just. This isn’t right. We want justice, we want accountability.’
Ms Chohan said: ‘She was our perfect girl and she was crushed to death. The buck has to stop with someone.’
Inquests into the deaths of Nuria and Selena were adjourned on July 12.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said that it recognised 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’.