Banned Driver Killed Baby Then Ran From Scene

A hit-and-run driver has pleaded guilty to an act of dangerous driving which killed a baby and left four adults seriously injured.

Sharjeel Shahzad, 30, of Great Barr, had previously admitted driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and driving while using fake plates.

But he had denied dangerous driving in relation to the incident on Dartmouth Road in Smethwick on 14 December last year.

Shahzad had crashed a stolen Porsche Cayenne into a Toyota Auris containing two-year-old Shehbaz Singh and his family.

He had previously offered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court on 11 April he changed his plea to guilty, also admitting failing to stop after a collision and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Following the horror crash and the tragic loss, the Singh family have spoken of their devastation and horror, made worse by Shahzad’s decision to drive away from the scene without stopping to call for help.

Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from West Midlands Police’s serious collision investigation unit, said: “Young Shehbaz tragically lost his life and others were seriously injured due to the selfishness and dangerous driving of Shahzad.

“He made no attempt to help anyone and ran off, rather than face up to what he’d done, but we managed to quickly identify and arrest him.

“This collision has devastated a family who we’ve continued to support during these hugely traumatic months.

“We know the local community were also distraught at what happened and have shown tremendous support for the family, as we did everything we could to ensure the man responsible was brought to justice.”

Shahzad had been involved in a previous incident of dangerous driving involving an Audi A4 last June. He awaits sentencing for that incident.

Judge Jonathan Gosling said: “I am not going to sentence you now, I want a pre-sentence report to be carried out on you. And I want to give the family who were so devastated by your actions to write down how your crimes impacted them, they will also be given the opportunity to read this aloud in court.”

Shahzad will be sentenced for all his offences on 4 July.