Aquaplaning driver who killed friend in smash is spared jail
AN inexperienced driver who killed his passenger in a horrific crash after aquaplaning on a motorway has avoided jail.
Shallaw Hameedi, 28, lost control of an Audi car on the M8 before repeatedly striking safety barriers on the central reservation, crossing over to the opposing carriageway and colliding with an oncoming car.
His passenger, Alexandru Dinca, died from his injuries and two women in the other vehicle were seriously injured.
Hameedi, of Scotstoun, Glasgow, was originally charged with causing the death of the 44-year-old Romanian national on July 27, 2019, by dangerous driving, which he denied. He was convicted of the lesser offence of causing death by careless driving.
Hameedi drove with one tyre below the legal tread limit and at an inappropriate speed for the conditions when he hit water on the surface near Junction 5 of the M8 at Shotts, Lanarkshire. Emma Patterson, 29, and Lynette Winning, 32, who were in the oncoming car, suffered serious injury.
Judge Norman McFadyen said at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday: ‘At the time of the accident you were clearly not in a position to control your car.’
The judge said it appeared to be ‘a case of poor judgment in difficult road conditions’ with ‘catastrophic consequences’.
He told Hameedi: ‘If you had been convicted of the charge as it was brought against you, you would have been facing a significant sentence of imprisonment.’
But he said that in light of the jury verdict, Hameedi’s personal circumstances – the Iranian-born Kurd had a ‘diffi
‘He feels very sorry and bad’
cult and traumatic background’ before moving to the UK – and the impact of the ‘terrible accident’ on him, he could impose an alternative.
Hameedi was given a community payback order and told to carry out 260 hours of unpaid work. He will be subject to supervision for 18 months and was banned from driving for three years.
Defence counsel Wendy Culross said Hameedi, ‘a young and inexperienced driver’, had told her ‘he feels very sorry and bad for what happened’.