UK motorist jailed for 10 years for killing pedestrian in high-speed crash

A motorist has been jailed for 10 years after killing a pedestrian and seriously injuring his passenger after driving at up to 92mph (148km/h) on a north London road.

Ali Xhaferri, 43, lost control of his BMW on the A406 North Circular Road at Stonebridge on 11 March 2022 and struck Ahmed Moneer, 37, a pedestrian who was walking along the pavement.

Moneer was thrown into the front room of a nearby residential property in front of a shocked family and died instantly, the Old Bailey heard.

The defendant’s front-seat passenger, Dexter Charles, 53, was seriously injured and suffered long-term neurological damage, the court was told.

Xhaferri was driving between 70mph and 92mph when the incident happened in wet conditions on a stretch of the A406 with a 40mph speed limit, the prosecutor, Amy Nicholson, said. He lost control as he entered a left-hand bend and smashed through a wall of a nearby property where seven occupants were at home, the court heard.

“Gliece Rodrigues Pires heard a very loud bang, turned and saw that the wall between the front bedroom and the living room was moving. There was a lot of smoke and gas and dust. The defendant’s vehicle was in the front bedroom. A wall was gone,” said Nicholson.

“The defendant could be seen in the driver’s seat moving his hands as if trying to get an airbag from his face.”

On discovering Moneer’s body, the family went into shock, the court heard.

The collision destroyed Rodrigues Pires’s vehicle and seriously damaged a van and another vehicle parked in front of the house.

Paramedics were called, but Moneer was pronounced dead from extensive traumatic injuries. Police officers at the scene said they smelled alcohol on Xhaferri, who told them: “I’ve had a few drinks.”

In the ambulance, he told a paramedic he had had three shots of brandy before telling police at hospital he’d had two small shots. Blood analysis, however, found he would have been under the legal limit for alcohol at the time of the incident.

Xhaferri was arrested on 12 March on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He initially told police that another car had caused the accident, the court heard.

A forensic collision investigative report concluded that Xhaferri’s vehicle would not have been able to travel around the bend at the speed it was travelling, whatever the conditions.

The defendant has previous convictions including dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop to provide a specimen, failing to stop, having no insurance and having no licence.

Prosecutors said the family of the deceased were too traumatised to prepare a victim impact statement for the court.

Judge Anthony Leonard KC sentenced Xhaferri to 10 years and six months in jail for causing death by dangerous driving and three years and three months for causing serious injury, to be served at the same time.

He was also disqualified from driving for 12 years and 11 months.