Drug-driver ran over teenager lying in road
A DRIVER who had cocaine in his system when he fatally ran over a teenager lying in the road initially mistook her for a discarded bag, a court heard.
Liam Flaherty, 35, hit 19-year-old Ayesha Rahman as she lay down in the middle of Gatley Road, Gatley, late at night in 2015.
Flaherty at first thought her body was a bag and by the time he realised it was a person, it was too late for him to miss her, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Ayesha, a former Kingsway School pupil, suffered serious head and chest injuries and later died in Wythenshawe Hospital.
Flaherty, of Knutsford, was within the speed limit and stopped at the scene, but was found to have a small amount of cocaine in his system.
He was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed drugs limit and driving under the influence of drugs.
A 16-month jail term was suspended for two years as the court heard Flaherty is serving a term of five years and one month handed to him in Spain for drugs offences last year. No more details of the Spanish prosecution were given.
He will now be returned to Spain and extradited back to the UK upon completing his prison sentence.
Following her death, Ayesha’s friends described her as ‘clever, arty and beautiful.’
Her friends had dropped her off following a trip out into Manchester and although she was ‘very drunk,’ they thought she had got home safely. But she was later seen walking in the middle of the road and refused help when a passer-by asked if she was alright. She then lay down on Gatley Road.
Prosecuting, Charlotte Crangle said: “We can’t say what caused her to be in the middle of the road.
“People at the scene, including the defendant, said he had clipped her and tried to avoid her.
“(Her mum) was able to see her in hospital and be with her daughter when she passed away.”
The collision happened on July 20, 2015, at around 11.30pm.
It was said a fragment of Ayesha’s jacket had been found in the wheels of Flaherty’s car. The street lights on Gatley Road were obscured by trees in places, the court heard.
Defending, Stuart Duke said his client had identified a hazard in the road but not realised it was a human.
He said: “This is a sad case. The defendant says not a day goes by without him thinking about Ayesha.
“He expresses remorse and regret. He apologises, no sentence will take away the events of that night.” Mr Duke asked because of Flaherty’s ‘unusual and unique circumstances’ if his jail sentence could be suspended.
In agreeing, Judge Maurice Greene said: “The facts themselves are highly unusual as she was already in the road and you had little time to react.”
Flaherty, of Rostherne Lane, Knutsford, told police he had taken cocaine the day before the collision. He was also given a three-year driving ban.