A 78-year-old grandad was killed when he was run over by an 80-year-old driver in a Tesco car park in Elmer's End.
Azharul Islam was walking back to his vehicle when he was hit by a car which turned right without indicating.
Mr Islam was trapped under the Nissan Qashqai for 15 minutes and died in hospital eight days later, leaving his family devastated.
Driver Keith Abrey, who was travelling at less than 4mph, said he simply didn’t see Mr Islam.
He admitted that at the time of the crash he may have been talking to his Alzheimer’s-stricken wife who was in the passenger seat.
Being driven around by her husband was one of the last things that resonated with her and they were just leaving Elmer's End Tesco where they had eaten lunch.
Abrey appeared at the Old Bailey where he was spared jail after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving.
It was revealed that Mr Abrey’s wife passed away in August last year. He told Mr Islam’s family that having suffered that loss he understands grief but knows that their pain must be much worse than his due to the circumstances.
Mr Islam and his wife of 51 years had recently moved to Bromley from east London to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
On September 8, 2021, they went shopping together then planned to visit their youngest grandson after his first day of school.
After unloading their shopping she waited in the car while he returned the trolley, which is when tragedy struck.
Describing the horror of seeing her husband trapped under the car, she said: “I felt as if I was in a nightmare and everything safe was falling around me, I was helpless.”
Mr Abrey failed to indicate as he turned down the aisle, cutting a corner and running over Mr Islam while in the wrong lane.
In the six seconds before the crash there were periods where Mr Islam was in the car’s blind spot, however, Judge Alexia Durran said: “Quite simply, Mr Islam was there and you should not have hit him”.
Mr Islam was rushed to King’s College Hospital after the car was eventually removed from him.
Seven days later his wife and three daughters were forced to make the decision to remove life support after being told there was no prospect of recovery.
In a victim impact statement read out by prosecutor Ms Hole, his wife said she was 19 when they married in India and she had never lived alone.
“We had done everything together, he was my world,” she said.
His wife described how they were looking forward to their new life together in Bromley, where they were renovating their new house.
“My husband was so selfless, kind and gentle, he lived for his family,” she said.
His daughters, who referred to him as Papa, described a strong man who was mobile, active and loved spending time with his five grandchildren.
One daughter said “it was not his time” while another added “he was not ready to leave us”.
Even though Mr Abrey conceded his manoeuvre had been careless in a police interview in September 2021, he was not charged until March 2023.
In mitigation, barrister Kevin Saunders told the court that Mr Abrey had never been in any trouble with the law and before this incident he had driven for 63 years without fault.
Death by careless driving carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment but after hearing the evidence Judge Durran told Mr Abrey that a prison sentence would not be just.
She said: “You did not set out that day to drive carelessly, you have no record and your risk of reoffending is low.”
He was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, meaning he will not be imprisoned unless he commits another crime.
Mr Abrey will be disqualified from driving for two years and will have to pass an extended driving test if he is to regain his licence.
It was indicated during the hearing that Mr Abrey had already voluntarily surrendered his licence.
Judge Durran told Mr Islam’s family that she was aware that the sentence she imposed couldn’t possibly quantify the extent of their suffering.
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