Remorseless boy racer ‘ought to have gotten life’ after mowing down woman on pavement
The father of a “model human being” daughter has vented his fury on the sentence of a killer driver who mowed her down on the pavement saying he “should have got life”.
Alisha Goup, 16, died after she was ploughed into by Omar Choudhury’s blue BMW 3 after he’d been “racing” with Hamidur Rahman’s BMW 1 series.
The two drivers who caused the death of Alisha after treating a town’s roads like a “private race observe” were jailed for a total of 28 years on Wednesday. They were given a sentence of 14 years each.
Choudhury, 22, and Rahman, 24, were caught on CCTV overtaking each other, and other road users, at high speeds in Oldham, Gtr Manchester, just before the crash.
Police said the pair had earlier engaged in a “threatening confrontation” with each other involving a weapon, believed to be a baseball bat, prior to the fatal collision.
Rahman, in an uninsured BMW 1 series, set off in pursuit of Choudhury, who was driving a BMW 3 series with the distinctive registration ‘OM08 ARR’.
Chilling video footage showed how Rahman turned off into a side street just before the crash, as Choudhury continued at high speed along Rochdale Road.
And as he reached 66pmh in the 30mph zone, he mounted the pavement after hitting a white Ford Fiesta and struck Alisha, who died at the scene on February 23 this year.
Both men received 14 years jail sentences at Manchester Crown Court on September 13 for causing death by dangerous driving.
But speaking after sentencing Alisha’s distraught father Bijur Goup, told the Mail Online: “We’re not happy with the sentence, Choudhury should have got life. There’s not been an ounce of remorse about killing a child who was a vulnerable pedestrian.”
Mr Goup paid tribute to his child, telling ITV news she was a “model daughter” and a “model human being”.
He said: “Selfless, the nicest person you could know or meet. She would have been one of the best adults, she would have done something for society. At the moment, it’s still raw. It’s playing on my mind 24/7. It should have been him that died really.”
“I think 14 years is not justifiable. The law has just changed, if you are a vulnerable pedestrian, the sentence should be higher.”
Speaking at Manchester Crown courtroom this week, Alisha’s grieving mother and father mentioned their daughter was the “most caring” individual you may ever meet.
They mentioned: “The dreadful news of Alisha being killed, not crossing the road but whilst walking on the pavement is hard to take. Our whole world fell apart. We all cried. A part of us died that day too and we all would give anything to have our Alisha back.
“We at all times ensured the youngsters all knew about street security from a younger age, little did we all know none of that might matter as she was killed in a spot you might be presupposed to be protected, the pavement.”
Speaking after sentencing, Sergeant Louise Warhurst, from Greater Manchester Police said the Choudhury and Rahman had “no regard” for the public.
She said: “Alisha was strolling alongside the footpath the place she ought to have been protected. Tragically, Omar Choudhury and Hamidur Rahman have been treating the general public freeway as their private race observe with no regard by any means for all different members of the general public utilizing the roads in Oldham that day.
“Both these men drove dangerously at astonishing speeds because of a petty disagreement.
“They have demonstrated their vanity by denying their accountability all through, every blaming the opposite, neither keen to just accept accountability for inflicting Alisha’s dying. Thankfully, they have been each discovered responsible.”