An electric vehicle driver who killed a five-year-old boy in a road crash has broken down in tears in the dock as he was cleared of charges facing him.
Ashenafei Demissie, 53, was behind the wheel of a Volkswagen ID.4 when it suddenly accelerated forward, killing Fareed Amir and seriously injuring his own 12-year-old son on November 25 2022.
At his week-long Old Bailey trial in London, a crash expert for prosecutors put the crash down to Addison Lee driver Demissie inadvertently pressing the accelerator pedal.
Yet the defendant said the car had moved forward by itself, possibly because of a software malfunction.
A jury deliberated for five hours before finding Demissie not guilty of causing death and serious injury by careless driving.
After leaving the dock, the tearful defendant dropped to his knees and prayed before leaving court.
Jurors were not told that as a result of publicity, as a dozen EV drivers got in touch with case lawyers to report concerns about their cars – including some with the same model that Demissie had.
Previously, the court heard the minicab driver had picked up his younger son from school on the afternoon of November 25.
Fareed Amir, five, was killed in a road crash in Borough, south London, on November 225 2022
Ashenafei Demissi was behind the wheel of a Volkswagen ID.4 when it suddenly accelerated forward, killing Fareed Amir – the driver has now been cleared of death by careless driving
He stopped his leased Volkswagen ID.4 in the car park outside his flat in Borough, south London, and waited for a parking space to become free.
The young boys had been playing nearby and Demissie had offered Fareed a lollipop before the vehicle suddenly moved forward, hitting them and crashing into five parked cars.
Fareed died from his injuries and the defendant’s son suffered several fractures to his lower limbs in the crash, which was witnessed by the boys’ mothers.
The defence had argued Demissie could not be convicted of the offence because the car park was a private place to be used only by residents of the block of flats.
Demissie had worked as a self-employed minicab driver for Addison Lee for eight years and had driven the car or ones identical to it for about a year.
Giving evidence, Demissie wept as he said he would see Fareed and his mother every day as they were ‘like family’.
Demissie told the court: ‘He had new clothes and he was running towards me. He was so excited, he wanted to show me, he came and was showing me, he was so excited.
‘He was saying, “Uncle Ash, Uncle Ash” – he was calling my name.’
The Old Bailey heard the incident happened on 25 November 2022 as Fareed (pictured) was walking home from primary school with his mother Maryam Lemulu
The court previously heard the minicab driver had picked up his younger son from school on the afternoon of November 25.
He stopped his leased Volkswagen ID.4 in the car park outside his flat in Borough, south London, and waited for a parking space to become free.
The young boys had been playing nearby and Demissie had offered Fareed a lollipop before the vehicle suddenly moved forward, hitting them and crashing into five parked cars.
In a police interview, the defendant said: ‘Suddenly the car jumped. I believe the car jumped because Fareed triggered the sensor. I had never had any mechanical problems with the car before.
‘Just like a moment of madness. I don’t know what happened exactly. I tried to brake. It was like too late. It was just like a moment, second, whoosh and jump.’
He told officers that his son told him, ‘Daddy hurts, daddy hurts, broken, daddy hurts’, as he covered his son so he would not see his injury.
Giving evidence in court, Demissie said he felt ‘hurt’ on learning that Fareed had died, telling jurors: ‘It is never-ending pain.’
Defence barrister Stephen Knight asked: ‘Did you press the accelerator to cause this collision?’ – with Demissie replying: ‘Never. I didn’t touch it.’
Demisse, pictured London’s Old Bailey, has been acquitted of any criminal offences
A Metropolitan Police traffic collision investigator said it was a case of ‘pedal misapplication’ by the defendant and he found no evidence of a fault.
Mark Still told jurors: ‘I was unable to find any defect that contributed to the collision and I was unable to make the car accelerate without the driver driving.
‘I found no faults with the operation of the vehicle, including steering, brake and acceleration.
‘I was unable to make the vehicle move without any additional input. You had to make an action to make the vehicle move.’
Mr Still added that he was unable to find anything that caused the car to move forward without the driver physically doing something to it.
But under cross-examination, he said that he was not a computer expert nor a software engineer.
After the verdict, Judge Alexia Durran thanked Fareed’s family in court for the ‘dignity’ they had shown throughout the trial.
A spokesman for Volkswagen was contacted for comment.
