Shameless hit and run driver who killed pregnant woman's unborn baby jailed

A hit and run driver who killed an unborn baby boy when he crashed into a pregnant woman while speeding has been jailed for 13 years.

Ashir Shahid, 20, hit Ranju Joseph as she used a pedestrian crossing in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, while on her way to work in September last year. Moments later, shameless Shahid was singing along to the song "It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy as he drove off and tried to hide the evidence of a damage windscreen.

Video clips from inside the car recorded both before the crash and after showed the 20-year-old's erratic driving. Shahid and his front seat passenger filmed the clips on their mobile phones and show him driving at speeds of up to 71mph through Preston and South Ribble. In another the passenger is sitting on the front passenger door window, with most of his body outside the car.

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Judge Ian Unsworth KC said Shahid's acceleration in the moments before the crash was "akin to what you may see on a Formula 1 race track".

He said: "Your driving was nothing less than appalling. You engaged in a prolonged and persistent course of dangerous driving. Your speed was significantly in excess of the speed limit and was highly inappropriate for the prevailing road conditions. Olive's life lasted five hours and 38 minutes. He did not live to see dawn. His mother never saw him alive. His life was snubbed out before it really began."

As he was sentenced at Preston Crown Court for causing death by dangerous driving of Mrs Joseph's son Olive and causing serious injury by dangerous driving of Mrs Joseph, the court heard witnesses saw his victim at the roadside.

They said they saw Mrs Joseph and two friends carefully walking across the zebra crossing in the dark, wind and rain. As Shahid reached the crossing he did not slow and threw Mrs Joseph into the air, and into the path of an oncoming car, Preston Crown Court heard.

As she lay seriously injured in the road, Shahid and his passenger sped away from the scene and began taking steps to cover their tracks.

Prosecutor Emma Keogh said his Toyota Prius was estimated to be travelling at between 58mph and 71mph in wet conditions in a 30mph zone. She said Mrs Joseph was taken to hospital with head and spinal injuries. She said: “It also became apparent that the life of her unborn child was in severe jeopardy.

“An emergency C-section had to be carried out in an attempt to save the unborn child’s life. The placenta had ruptured and Mrs Joseph had bled quite heavily. Her child was born that evening but sadly he only survived for a few hours before passing away.

“This was her very first pregnancy with her husband who she married about five years earlier. This was a planned pregnancy and very much wanted.”

Healthcare assistant Mrs Joseph was walking slightly behind two colleagues on the crossing at about 7.50pm as they headed to work a night shift. A motorist travelling in the opposite direction said the Prius driver seemed to increase speed about 15 metres away from the crossing and then swerved away from the two pedestrians in front.

The pregnant woman was hit and “thrown into the air for quite some distance” before she tumbled and rolled into the car, said the witness.

Ms Keogh told the court: “It was very clear from footage in both the lead-up and the aftermath that the Toyota was driven at speed. It was clear that throughout the journey the driving by Ashir Shahid left a lot to be desired.”

Within 11 minutes of the collision, searches were made on Shahid's mobile phone, reading 'charge for hit and run human'. In Farnworth, he and and another man went to Frankie's Chicken Shop, laughing and joking about what had taken place.

One was heard laughing as he said: “I’m basically with a murderer.” After spotting the CCTV inside the shop, he asked the man behind the camera: “If anyone asks for this video, don’t give it them. This guy is a criminal.”

At 9.37pm, as the men waited in the chicken shop, an hour and a half after the collision, a Mercedes flat bed truck collected the Toyota. The men were seen looking at their mobile phones, where news of the collision was beginning to emerge on social media.

One laughed: "That's the woman. She's in hospital." Later, a Snapchat recording was recovered of Shahid singing along to Shaggy's 'It wasn't me' as he and the other man drove away from Frankie's Chicken Shop.

Mrs Joseph read a victim impact statement to the court, she said: "Everything has changed for me now. Everything has been ruined by that one night and the callous and reckless actions of those two people in that car. My life will never be the same again.

“I will never get to meet my baby, be a mummy to him or watch him grow up. They have taken my first child away from me and I will never get him back.

“I don’t know how I will ever move on from the events of that night. I will always be reminded of what happened by the fact that my child is not here anymore and he should be. I have physical scars, but the emotional scars are the worst. There is not a day I do not think about my baby boy.”

Her husband Nigel said: “My whole life changed that night. My baby Olive was born and he was so tiny. We were planning a gender reveal party but I found out his sex when he was placed in my arms.

“Ranju was fighting for her life and she would never have the chance to meet her child. I can not explain the pain I feel.”

He added: “Not a day goes by without me thinking of our baby boy Olive. He will be forever in our hearts.”