Deliveroo driver GUILTY over tragic crash which killed pensioner, 86

A Deliveroo driver has been found guilty of causing death by careless driving after hitting an elderly man as he crossed the road.

Mustafa Sayed, 55, was en route to deliver some food to a customer when he approached the junction of School Lane and Parrs Wood Road in Didsbury on November 14 2022.

As the lights changed from red to green he turned right onto Parrs Wood Road. At the same time Sadrudin Noormaohamed Adatia, aged 86, was slowly crossing the road with his walking aid.

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Sayed struck Mr Adatia causing him to be flown into the air, Manchester Crown Court previously heard. He was rushed to hospital but sadly died as a result of his injuries the following morning.

Sayed, of Withington, denied causing death by driving without due care and attention, but following a two-day trial, he was unanimously found guilty by jurors.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Stephen Littlewood said that both roads are governed by a 30mph limit and the junction is controlled by traffic lights. Mr Sayed was driving along School Lane when the lights at the junction with Parrs Wood turned from red to green, jurors heard.

“Mr Adatia was 86-years-old and walked with an assistant mobility walker. He began to cross the road, slowly, as the defendant was approaching the junction,” Mr Littlewood said.

“When he began to cross the road the light was red telling pedestrians not to cross, though he was in the middle of the road when the defendant went to turn right.”

Mr Sayed was said to ‘briefly’ touch the brakes but did not appreciably slow his car down and collided directly with Mr Adatia, the court heard. It caused the 86-year-old to be flung across the windscreen and into the road, it was said.

Prosecutors said that Mr Sayed only braked afterwards. The collision was captured on CCTV and played to jurors during the opening of the case.

After the incident, Mr Sayed remained at the scene and other members of the public attended before paramedics took Mr Adatia to hospital. He sadly died from his injuries in the early hours of the following morning.

Mr Sayed was arrested and interviewed and chose not to answer questions from officers, jurors were told.

Mr Littlewood said that drivers ‘must drive with due care and attention for other road users’.

“They must be alive to hazards on the road. The Highway Code establishes that cars must give way to pedestrians that are crossing the road and that once a pedestrian is on the road, they are priority,” he said.

“You might think it is simple common sense that when driving a car you must be aware of what is ahead of you. In this case, the defendant had numerous opportunities to check the road he was turning into before initiating the turn.

“If at any point he would have looked into the road ahead of him, he would have seen.”

Giving evidence, Sayed told jurors that he did look into the road but ‘just didn’t see or notice’ Mr Adatia.

Katherine Wright, representing Sayed, asked: “Did you see anything that would make you stop?”

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “When I turned right I couldn’t see anything in front of me.”

“When did you first see Mr Adatia crossing the road?” the barrister asked. “I saw him and I braked just before I hit him. I braked as hard as I could,” he said.

In cross examination, Mr Littlewood asked “How did you not see Mr Adatia?

Sayed replied: “This is what is bothering me, how I did not see him. As soon as I did see him I pressed my brakes. I tried to avoid it as soon as I noticed him. I didn’t think at the time that this accident was about to happen.”

After two hours of deliberations, jurors found Sayed, of Parsonage Road, guilty of causing death by driving without due care and attention. He will be sentenced on January 17 2025.