Batley man jailed after runaway van killed Dewsbury mum

A driver whose empty runaway van rolled down a steep hill before hitting and killing a mother has been jailed for 11 months.
BEHIND BARS Mohammed Karani has been jailed for 11 months after his runaway van killed a woman.BEHIND BARS Mohammed Karani has been jailed for 11 months after his runaway van killed a woman.
BEHIND BARS Mohammed Karani has been jailed for 11 months after his runaway van killed a woman.

Leeds Crown Court heard father-of-six Mohammed Karani failed to properly apply the handbrake or put the van in gear after parking on Swindon Road in Dewsbury on April 26 last year.

Mother-of-four Simran Ahmed, 46, was killed instantly after the Ford Transit rolled on to nearby Willans Road and on to the pavement as she walked two of her children home from school.

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Her ten-year-old daughter Kiran suffered a fractured skull in the incident.

Last month, a Leeds Crown Court jury convicted 44-year-old Karani, of Park Close, Batley, of causing death by careless driving.

The jury heard Karani had been doing some electrical work at a nearby mosque and the van had been parked for 43 minutes on the hill, which has a 15 per cent gradient, before it started rolling down it.

Karani’s lawyer Andrew Dallas said in mitigation: “Nothing we can say on his behalf can possibly bring her back and this defendant will live with that for the rest of his life, whatever sentence is passed by this court.”

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Jailing Karani for 11 months yesterday (Thursday), Judge Christopher Batty told him: “You had engaged the handbrake to only the second notch out of a possible six. You had not engaged gear, you had not turned your wheels towards the kerb.

“Of course there is no way you intended what happened on that day, or foresaw it. But this is a road that is well known to you Its gradient is apparent.”

Judge Batty added: “No sentence will ever bring Simran Ahmed back. No sentence will ever compensate her family for their immeasurable loss.

“The fact that her daughters were present when the collision took place will no doubt live with them forever.”

Karani was also banned from driving for 12 months.

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