Driver ran over teen lying in road after he mistook her for discarded bag after taking cocaine
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A driver had taken cocaine when he ran over a drunk teenager lying in the road after he mistook her for a discarded bag, a court heard.
Liam Flaherty fatally hit 19-year-old Ayesha Rahman as she lay down late at night in 2015.
The 35-year-old at first thought her prostrate body was a bag but realised too late it was a person.
He was unable to swerve enough to avoid her, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard on Monday.
Ayesha suffered serious head and chest injuries in the crash in Gatley, Greater Manchester, and later died in hospital.
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Flaherty, of Knutsford, Cheshire, was within the speed limit and stopped at the scene, but was found to have a small amount of cocaine in his system, the Manchester Evening News reports
He was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed drugs limit and driving under the influence of drugs.
But a 16-month jail term was suspended for two years.
The court heard Flaherty is serving a term of five years and one month handed to him in Spain for drugs offences last year.
(Image: MEN/ WS)
No more details of the Spanish prosecution were given.
He will now be returned to Spain and extradited back to the UK upon completing his prison sentence.
Following her death, Ayesha’s friends paid tribute to her describing her as ‘clever, arty and beautiful’.
Her friends had dropped her off following a trip out into Manchester and although she was ‘very drunk’ they thought she had got home safely.
But she was later seen walking in the middle of the road and refused help when a passerby asked if she was alright. She then lay down on the road.
(Image: MEN/ WS)
Prosecuting, Charlotte Crangle said: “We can’t say what caused her to be in the middle of the road.
“People at the scene, including the defendant, said he had clipped her and tried to avoid her.
“(Her mum) was able to see her in hospital and be with her daughter when she passed away.”
The collision happened on July 20, 2015, at around 11.30pm.
It was said a fragment of Ayesha’s jacket had been found in the wheels of Flaherty’s car.
And that the streetlights the road were obscured by trees in places.
Defending, Stuart Duke said his client had identified a hazard in the road but not realised it was a human.
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
He said: “This is a sad case. No one will know how she came to be lying in the road on that fateful evening. The defendant says not a day goes by without him thinking about Ayesha.
“He expresses remorse and regret, he accepts if he had paid more attention he wouldn’t be standing here today.
“He apologises, no sentence will take away the events of that night.”
Mr Duke asked because of Flaherty’s ‘unusual and unique circumstances’ if his jail sentence could be suspended.
In agreeing, Judge Maurice Greene said: “The facts themselves are highly unusual as she was already in the road and you had little time to react.”
Flaherty told police he had taken cocaine the day before the collision. He was also given a three-year driving ban.