KNANGURA:HIT AND RUN DRIVER WHO LEFT TODDLER TO DIE IN ROAD FACES JAIL

A hit-and-run motorist who failed to stop after a fatal collision with a toddler has been warned he faces jail.

Gurpal Khangura, 34, was driving his blue VW Golf when two-year-old Aashir Zeeshan wandered into the street.

Little Aashir was crossing the road back to his mother Sumaira when he was hit and hurled up to 16 metres by the impact.

He later died from head injuries sustained in the collision.

It was claimed Khangura was exceeding the 20mph limit at the time of the impact in Salisbury Avenue, Barking, Essex, on July 5 last year.

Khangura was due to stand trial for causing death by careless driving but the charge was dropped when Aashir’s mother said she would not attend court to give evidence.

But he was warned that he still faces jail for failing to stop at the scene of the accident.

Sumaira, 25, was due to give key evidence about the speed Khangura was travelling at when he hit Aashir.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard she is now heavily pregnant, may be abroad and is not willing to give evidence.

The prosecution offered no evidence against Khangura in respect of the charge of causing death by dangerous driving after Judge Simon Wilkinson refused to accept a written statement from Sumaira.

‘She will not cooperate because she wants to put this matter behind her,’ the judge added.

Khangura, of (48) Swiftsure Road, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Essex, admitted failing to stop after an accident but denied causing death by dangerous driving.

He was bailed pending sentence on July 27 but Judge Wilkinson warned: ‘I do have imprisonment in mind – this is a serious example in this case.’

Aashir’s father Syed, 35, an accountant, had said after the tragedy: ‘All of our happiness has been taken away.

‘Why didn’t the driver stop. I want him to see what’s been done to my son.’
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