Remorseless hit and run killer Ashir Shahid, who has today been locked up for 13 years, made light of his terrible crimes after speeding away from the scene
A remorseless hit and run killer sang along to Shaggy’s ‘It wasn’t me’ while his newborn victim fought for his life in hospital, a court has heard.
Ashir Shahid ran over pregnant healthcare assistant Ranju Joseph in Preston on the evening of September 29 last year, as she carefully made her way across a zebra crossing in the dark, wind and rain, accompanied by two friends.
Horrifyingly, Shahid, 20, did not slow down as he sped towards the crossing on Station Road, Bamber Bridge, colliding into the 31-year-old expectant mother, who was “thrown into the air for quite some distance”.
The Toyota Prius was estimated to be travelling at between 58mph and 71mph at the time, in a 30mph zone, Preston Crown Court heard. Today, he has been locked up for 13 years.
As Ranju lay gravely ill on the road, Shahid and his passenger brother Sam Shahid, 17, cowardly raced away from the scene. In a sick twist, the pair would later make light of the crime, laughing and joking about Ranju’s plight.
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Video clips recovered from Ashir’s mobile phone and that of his front seat passenger, younger brother Sam, showed them laughing and singing to music as the car is driven erratically and at speed.
While Ashir and his brother took steps to cover their tracks, medics worked desperately to save Ranju and her unborn child. After she was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital, it was found that Ranju had sustained severe head and spinal injuries, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Her placenta had also ruptured, and doctors made the decision to deliver her baby boy to give him a chance of survival. At this point, Ranju was just 24 weeks into her pregnancy.
Tragically, the tiny baby, who was named Olive, lived for just a few short hours, passing away in the early hours of September 30. And while the baby fought for his life, Ashir and Sam and were making sick jokes at his expense and that of his seriously injured mother.
Within just 11 minutes of mowing down Ranju, Ashir made searches for ‘charge for hit and run human’ on his phone. The driver and his brother then headed to Frankie’s Chicken Shop, in Farnworth, where they joked about the tragic events.
One man could be heard laughing as Shahid said: “I’m basically with a murderer.”
After noticing the shop had CCTV, he then asked the man behind the camera: “If anyone asks for this video, don’t give it them. This guy is a criminal.”
By 9.37 pm, an hour and a half after the collision, news was starting to break online about the Station Road incident. While waiting in the chicken shop, the men could be seen looking at updates on their phones, with one laughing: “That’s the woman. She’s in hospital.”
Sickeningly, as evidenced in a Snapchat recording seen in court, Ashir sang along to Shaggy’s ‘It wasn’t me’ as he and his brother drove away from Frankie’s Chicken Shop.
Voice note recordings were also discovered of his Sam rapping: “Ran that b**** over, baby got packed. She still not woke up, she still asleep.”
Ashir, of Windsor Road, Walton le Dale, Preston, pleaded guilty in June to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. On Friday, he was also banned from driving for 15 years and one month, and must pass an extended retest.
His brother Sam, also of Windsor Road, was detained for three years after he pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.
Sentencing them, Judge Ian Unsworth KC said Ashir’s acceleration in the moments before the crash was “akin to what you may see on a Formula 1 race track”.
He said: “Your driving was nothing less than appalling. You engaged in a prolonged and persistent course of dangerous driving. Your speed was significantly in excess of the speed limit and was highly inappropriate for the prevailing road conditions.
“Olive’s life lasted five hours and 38 minutes. He did not live to see dawn. His mother never saw him alive. His life was snubbed out before it really began.”
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