A DRIVER who killed a nine-year-old girl crossing the road outside her school has been sentenced today to eight years in jail.
Alice Williams was crossing the road ahead of her mum and six-year-old brother in Halifax, West Yorkshire, when a driver – speeding at 49mph in a 30mph zone – ran a red light and crashed into her.
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Qadeer Hussain, 55, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison on Friday.
He has also been banned from driving for 10 years and two months, after which he can only drive again following an extended re-test.
Today, Bradford Crown Court heard that cars had been stopped in the left lane at a red light for seven seconds when the Vauxhall Corsa driver crashed into the schoolgirl in the right-hand lane.
The tragedy unfolded on the morning of July 8, 2023.
Prosecutor Jonathan Gibson said drivers would have had an “uninhibited view” of the puffin crossing’s traffic lights on the King’s Cross Street dual carriageway.
Prosecutors said Hussain deliberately ran the red light, thinking no one was crossing, as his view was blocked by vehicles stopped in the left-hand lane.
Alice’s mum Clare O’Neill said she felt “hate” for the driver with “every cell” of her body and “every breath”.
She said: “I feel blinding, chest-crushing, white-hot rage at you, unlike any emotion I’ve ever felt before. She wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, you were.
“You knew it all along, I’m helpless to express my anger that you stole everything from her.”
O’Neill said she could not “adequately describe what it’s like to have one’s child obliterated”.
She explained: “Every day there is an empty space right next to me, where she should be standing.
“I’m missing her ideas, her voice, everything about her, with real pain.
“I have a phantom limb – you severed her from me.
“The wound is still healing, I will never be whole again.”
O’Neill said the event had been “imprinted” on Alice’s younger brother’s memory.
She recalled him asking someone to collect his sister’s shoes from the road, which had been thrown from her during the crash, while his mum remained frozen in panic.
Alice’s dad, Chris Williams, described his daughter as a “beautiful soul”.
Williams said Alice’s death had destroyed his wife’s mental health and left him feeling “numb” for years since.
He added: “Alice and hundreds like her every year shouldn’t have to die because of drivers who don’t realise or don’t care about the consequences of their actions.”
In a statement read out to the court, Alice’s younger brother said: “She was really good at Minecraft. My mum is not at all good at Minecraft.
“I think Qadeer Hussain is bad. If drivers speed they’re automatically bad guys because they know they shouldn’t do it.
“It’s too bad for me to think about. It makes me feel very sad. I don’t trust drivers and I don’t like cars going too fast.
“I want a house with four people in, not three. If we have three, we always have a spare room and a spare chair.
“My mum cries a lot, and my dad doesn’t cry a lot but he’s very sad. I miss having a young person in my house.”
Prosecutors said Alice was thrown into the air and towards the pavement following the crash, which was seen by several eyewitnesses.
Forensic analysis of video footage revealed the dangerous driver was travelling at an average speed of 49mph in a 30mph zone, even accelerating after the pedestrian crossing lights turned red.
Hussain’s brake lights only came on 46 feet before the point of impact, a distance insufficient to stop, even if he had been driving at the speed limit, the court heard.
Prosecutor James Lake said: “It’s clear the defendant was reacting to Alice’s presence in the road, not to the fact that the traffic lights were red. I want to make that absolutely clear.”
Alice was formally declared dead two days later, on July 10, 2023, with forensic pathologists confirming she died from severe blunt force head injuries to both her front and back left side.
Her organs were later donated, resulting in four successful transplants.
Hussain was arrested at the scene.
During a police interview in 2024, he claimed that he had been telling his children off about the car’s Bluetooth stereo system and thought he was driving between 25 to 35mph.
He insisted that there was “nothing wrong with his driving.”
He also said that the lights were still changing to red when Alice “came towards him”.
However, prosecutor James Lake added that a subsequent investigation of dashcam and CCTV footage revealed Hussain’s account was “completely inaccurate”.
Michael Greenhalgh, defending Hussain, noted his lack of a previous criminal record and his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.
He said: “English is not his first language, it’s difficult for him to verbalise his remorse without the use of an interpreter, but as someone with a family of his own he’s able to understand to a degree what the kind of loss that Alice’s family sustained actually means.”
Greenhalgh also pointed out that Hussain’s comments about his driving were not pursued in court.
Judge Jonathan Gibson said no sentence “could ever make up for the overwhelming loss of Alice to her family and those who knew her.”
He thanked another driver, Joshua Helliwell, who had provided medical assistance to Alice before the ambulance arrived.
Before sentencing, the judge said: “Alice was nine years old in July 2023, she was a bright, much-loved and loving child.
“The loss to her mother, father and younger brother together with every member of her wider family and circle of friends has been huge and overwhelming.
“It is impossible to find words to express the enormity of their loss. Reading and hearing the victim personal statements in this case has made that clear.
“The consequences of what happened that day go far beyond what happened to Alice herself, which was catastrophic in itself and effect the family and will do so for the rest of their lives.”
He added: “Alice as a pedestrian is a vulnerable road user. You wrongly placed the blame on Alice for running into the road and into your path in your police interviews.
“She did nothing wrong, as I have already said, she, her mother and younger brother, crossed the road entirely appropriately.”
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