Man who mowed down girl, 10, and left her for dead in the middle of the road SPARED jail
A pharmacist has been spared jail after he mowed down a 10-year-old girl and left her for dead in a hit-and-run road smash.
Farhan Musaji, 26, jumped a red lights at a junction in his Audi A4 and ploughed into Layla Shepard as she was cycling home. As the youngster lay severely injured at the roadside, Musaji drove on down the road before abandoning his car and heading home.
Musaji was arrested later and instead has been ordered to pay just £900 to the victim in damages. The impact in Deane, Bolton, left Layla with a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose and she needed surgery on her leg as the skin above her knee had been badly damaged by the impact.
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In a statement, the youngster said: ''I feel like the whole incident has left me overwhelmed. I have recently seen a psychiatrist, who has diagnosed me with PTSD. I have not ridden my bike since the incident and I regularly suffer flashbacks, which keep me up at night.”
At Bolton Crown Court, Musaji faced up to two years jail after he admitted causing serious injury by careless driving and failing to stop after an accident. But he was sentenced to a 12-month community order after a judge accepted character references describing him as a ''hard working and honest'' man.
Miss Anna Bond, prosecuting, said, “At around 6:49pm on Saturday the 16th of October 2021, Layla Shepard, who was 10 at the time, was riding on her pushbike along Wigan Road towards a crossing junction. She arrived at the puffin crossing and started the ride over to the other side of junction.
“A Mr Downey had just emerged from a chip shop nearby and went to the traffic lights on the other side of the crossing. He saw the defendant’s car