This is the first picture of a ‘popular’ five-year-old killed when a family friend’s electric car allegedly ran him over ‘of its own accord’ as he walked home from school.
Fareed Amir was left with fatal head injuries when Ashenafei Demisse’s parked Volkswagen ID.4 suddenly accelerated into him outside a block of flats near London Bridge, a court heard.
Demisse, 52, who denies causing death and serious injury by careless or inconsiderate driving, claims the vehicle moved on its own while he was sitting inside it.
The November 2022 crash also injured Demisse’s 12-year-old son, Raphael, who was rushed to hospital with two broken legs.
The Times reports that Stephen Knight, for the defence, told a jury at the Old Bailey on Monday: ‘Mr Demisse did not press the car’s accelerator. This all-electric car moved on its own accord.’
As Fareed walked home from school with his mother, Maryam Lemulu, she stopped to talk to her friend of 13 years and Demisse’s wife, Yodit Samuel, who was with Raphael.
Demisse was sitting in his car with the couple’s other son, who is five years old.
He offered Fareed a treat which his mother refused as she was trying to reduce her son’s sugar intake.
The first picture released of Fareed Amir who was killed when a family friend’s electric car allegedly ran over him
The Volkswagen then suddenly lurched forward, hitting Fareed, Raphael and five other cars before coming to a halt, the court heard.
Fareed’s mother carried him to nearby Guy’s Hospital – but he was soon pronounced dead from multiple traumatic injuries, including a fractured skull.
Raphael spent a month in hospital with multiple fractures of his right leg and a fractured left leg.
Prosecutor Michael Williams said police found no evidence of faults in the 2021-made car, concluding only the driver could have moved it.
He told the jury Demisse ‘inadvertently pressed the accelerator, causing it to crash into the two boys’, adding he ‘must have pressed down on the accelerator pedal with his foot’.
There was no evidence the driver had braked, Mr Williams continued, as the car reached ‘near maximum speed’.
He claimed Demisse put his foot on the accelerator despite believing, mistakenly, he was pressing the brake.
In a statement read to the court, Fareed’s mother said her son called to Demisse moments before the accident: ‘Uncle Ash, uncle Ash.’
Ashenafei Demisse claims the vehicle moved on its own while he was sitting inside it and denies the charges against him
Ms Lemulu added: ‘The car suddenly moved forward. It did not make any noise. It took off very fast.
‘Yodit shouted, ‘The kids’. It hit Fareed on the side and I saw his hand go slowly down the car.
‘I screamed and said, ‘Please call help, my son is dead’.’
Demisse’s wife told the court in a statement he had been a taxi driver for many years and had been working seven days a week at the time of the crash.
Ms Samuel said Fareed was talking to her husband through the driver’s window when ‘all of a sudden, in a split second, I saw the car move forward very quickly’.
She continued: ‘I don’t recall any engine sounds or revving.’
Describing Fareed’s mother as ‘like a sister’ to her, she added: ‘What happened is a tragedy and I feel very sorry for her.’
A JustGiving page set up by a family friend, which has raised nearly £1,000, described him as ‘a happy boy with a constant smile on his face’.
‘Mum and Dad were very proud of him. It was beautiful seeing him flourish and it showed amongst his teachers, friends and parents,’ it added.
‘The school ain’t the same without him. The atmosphere has totally changed. He was our little light. He is truly missed.’
The trial continues.
