Unlicensed Rotherham driver who killed pedestrian denies dangerous driving

AN UNLICENSED driver whose car hit a woman at a pedestrian crossing has gone on trial accused of causing death by dangerous driving.

Alan Stubbings (54), of Carlisle Place, Rotherham, admits driving the silver Ford Focus which hit Hasan Idris Mohamed as she made her way over the pedestrian crossing outside Clifton Park - but denies driving 15mph over the 30mph speed limit.

Ms Mohamed, who was in her 50s, died at the scene of the August 6, 2016, collision on Doncaster Road.

Opening the case at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Monday), Mr Christopher Smith said Stubbings had never passed a driving test and held only an expired provisional licence.

“You will hear evidence that suggests that this defendant was simply travelling too fast for all the circumstances,” said prosecutor Mr Smith.

“This was, after all, a single carriageway road where pedestrians were inevitably going to be near to the entrance to the public park.

“It was a bright, clear and sunny afternoon and there was no reason not to have seen Ms Mohamed as she made her way across the pedestrian crossing.”

Mr Smith said Stubbings had been travelling at around 45mph just prior to the collision.

“[It is] a speed which we say, in these circumstances, approaching a pedestrian crossing, close to residential properties and a public park, a speed which meant the standard of driving fell far below that expected of a careful and competent motorist,” said Mr Smith.

“To put it another way, his driving was dangerous, and it was the dangerous manner of his driving that caused the death of Ms Mohamed.”

Mr Smith said Stubbings accepted driving carelessly and it would be up to the jury to decide if it was in fact dangerous.

The prosecutor said another motorist, Kirsty Thornhill, who had witnessed the aftermath of the collision and given first aid to the victim, said Stubbings had driven off from the scene.

Mr Smith said Stubbings abandoned his car on a nearby street and arrived at his partner’s home in a taxi, where the police were waiting for him.

He told officers he had been involved in the collision but was “confident he was driving at no more than the speed limit when he hit someone”.

The trial continues.

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