'It hurts that I'll never see Donna again' - father's sorrow as killer delivery driver walks free

Exactly seven months after the fatal collision with pedestrian Donna Barrow-Jones outside Wigan Infirmary, Nezar Abukhrais pleaded guilty to three offences at Bolton Crown Court.

He admitted causing the 53-year-old’s death by careless driving, as well as causing death while driving without insurance and without a licence.

He had originally also been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident, but Abukhrais maintained that he had been unaware that his vehicle had hit anything and the court decided it was not in the public interest to pursue those charges so they were withdrawn.

This despite there being evidence given in the case that 35-year-old Abukhrais was seen turning off Wigan Lane to inspect the front of his car after the crash.

And CCTV footage played in court showed the car rise and fall as it collided with Ms Barrow-Jones and the brake lights came on three seconds later, but the car did not stop.

Judge Timothy Stead imposed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, taking into consideration his guilty pleas, time served while remanded on custody and on bail, and the coronavirus pandemic.

He also handed down a two-year community order, with 120 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity days, as well as a five-year driving ban and extended test.

The court heard respected counsellor and psychotherapist Ms Barrow-Jones had been walking along Wigan Lane with her partner Howard Barrow at around 8.45pm on Saturday November 23.

They had been visiting his daughter and she had drunk a “substantial” amount of alcohol, with tests showing she was four times over what would be the legal drink-drive limit.

Ms Barrow-Jones fell in the road and could not get up, so she went onto her knees and tried to get back towards the pavement that way, the hearing was told.

She had been in the road for 19 seconds when she was hit by a car which did not stop.

She suffered multiple injuries, the court heard, and was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.53pm.

Police launched an investigation and debris found identified the vehicle as a black Hyundai.

The Hyundai i40 was found on Duke Street the next day, showing damage and the front of the vehicle appeared to have been recently cleaned. It was owned by Abukhrais’s brother.

Police inquiries established the car had been used on November 23 to deliver takeaway food for two restaurants.

While Abukhrais’s brother was insured to drive it, the policy did not cover the defendant. He also did not have a driving licence, having qualified in his home country of Libya but not passed a test since moving to the UK six years ago.

The court heard Abukhrais, of Shipton Street in Bolton, was arrested on November 26 and said he had not been involved in an accident.

The prosecutor said Abukhrais was 205m away when Ms Barrow-Jones went into the road and as he was travelling at 24mph, he should have been able to stop within 32m. It is likely he would have been able to see her from 80m away, the court heard.

In a victim impact statement, her father Alan Jones said he was “devastated” and his “whole tranquil world changed” when a police officer knocked on his door at midnight that day.

He said: “Donna was the kind of person that would help anyone. She was beautiful inside and out. She had everything to live for and it deeply hurts to know we will never see her or speak to her again.”

Brenda Campbell, defending, said Abukhrais was not aware he had hit Ms Barrow-Jones until he was questioned by the police.

The court heard he thought he had hit a defect on the road, but did not realise it could have been a person or object.

She said: “He was surprised to find that it was suggested that he had killed somebody in the circumstances where he genuinely didn’t believe he had collided with a person.”

While he was in “a certain state of disbelief”, he accepted responsibility for what had happened, was “desperately sorry” and had expressed “genuine” remorse.

He had no previous convictions and had never been in a police station before being arrested.

While it had been suggested Ms Barrow-Jones would have been visible from 80m away, Ms Campbell said that “in real terms that is indeed a matter of seconds”.

“He simply didn’t see her. He can offer no other explanation, save for if he had seen her, he would have stopped. If he had known he had collided with a person, he absolutely would have stopped,” she said.

She said he had a “momentary lapse of concentration”.

Abukhrais was not entitled to work in the UK, but he needed money to support his wife and their four children, the youngest of whom was only six weeks old at the time.

Ms Campbell described him as a “committed family man”, who had a degree in law and a master’s degree in business, but said his family had faced hardship over the past decade.

Sentencing, Judge Stead described the case as a “tragedy” for Ms Barrow-Jones and her family.

He disagreed with the suggestion Abukhrais had a “momentary” lapse of concentration, saying it was “more significant than that”.

A 12-month prison term was reduced to eight months for his guilty pleas, before being suspended.

Judge Stead said: “When I step back and look at the greater picture, it seems to me, applying the law as I am required to do, it is just in the circumstances for me to suspend the term of imprisonment and impose elements of a community order as well as punishment and disqualification.”

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