Taxi driver who knocked down and killed pedestrian aged 91 spared jail

Moqadas Hafeez had been warned he could be locked up after being found guilty of causing death by careless driving.

But when he returned to Wolverhampton Crown Court to be sentenced the 39-year-old defendant was told by Judge Simon Ward that it would be 'disproportionate' to send him into immediate custody since he had a young family and was of previous good character.

Ukraine-born Mychajilo Dudok was crossing three-lane New Road – part of the inner Stourbridge ring road – when tragedy struck at lunchtime on September 22 2017.

He was hit by a VW Passat driven by Hafeez who did not see him until it was too late but claimed the victim had fallen back off the pavement into the path of his car - an explanation dismissed by both the judge and jury.

Motorist Joan Lester was in the middle lane alongside the taxi, which was slightly ahead on her, when she spotted the elderly man slowly crossing the road with a shopping basket and walking stick.

She explained: "When I first saw him he was in the first of the three lanes he had to cross and I said to my husband: 'I don’t know if he is going to make it.'

"But the man cleared my lane and moved into the third lane where there was a collision between him and another car. I had started to slow but the other car had not done anything.The man stepped into his lane and it hit him."

Hafeez, of Albert Street, Lye, could have stopped in time to avoid knocking down the pensioner who died from his injuries later the same day, said a police expert who estimated the taxi was travelling at about 28mph in a 30mph zone and was still travelling at 18mph.

Judge Ward told him: "Mrs Lester saw him. You were in front of her and should have seen him. You were not driving carefully because either you didn't see him until you hit him or did see him and expected him to get out of the way. You made no adjustment to your speed."

The defendant, who had a clean driving licence, denied causing death by careless driving but was convicted after a trial and had been remanded on bail for pre sentence reports.

He was given a ten month jail term suspended for two years with 180 hours unpaid work and a three year driving ban.