Mum remains in coma six months after horror crash that killed her toddler
Kushpreet Kaur was travelling in a Toyota Auris alongside her son Shehbaz Singh, his father Amritpal Singh and their close friends, Baljeet Singh and Pavanpreet Kaur, when they were struck by disqualified driver Sharjeel Shahzad on December 14 last year.
Shahzad, aged 30, was behind the wheel of a stolen Porsche Cayenne and was driving on the wrong side of the road and doing 51mph in a 30mph zone in Dartmouth Road, Smethwick, before a head-on collision occurred just before 11pm that day.
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Shahzad, from Great Barr, fled the scene on foot but was arrested two days later after he became the prime suspect and police identified his finger prints on the car and on the false number plate it was displaying - along with his DNA on the airbag.
The Porsche had been stolen from nearby Walsall during a sales test.
At Shahzad's sentencing today (July 4) at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Gosling said: "Tragically, that little boy suffered serious injuries.
"Desperate attempts were made to save his life at the scene and the hospital, but he died that same day."
The court was told Kushpreet suffered a bleed on the brain, serious skull and facial injuries and a fractured right leg and required emergency treatment.
Kushpreet has not recovered sufficiently from her injuries to be told of the death of her son, the court was told
While Baljeet, who was driving the Toyota, suffered a "fractured spine", the judge said.
Sergeant Paul Hughes from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at West Midlands Police said: "The mum remains unconscious in hospital to this day."
Shahzad initially denied causing death by dangerous driving but changed his plea in April.
He also admitted causing death by dangerous driving, two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving with no insurance and failing to stop after a collision.
Today (July 4) at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Shahzad was sentenced to 15 years and four months in prison and banned from driving for 18 years and three months.
Sgt Hughes from SCIU added: "We have a young child that has been killed on our roads, a family that is suffering, and this is because of a split-second decision and dangerous driving, and that's got to stop.
"No sentence is going to bring Shehbaz back, no sentence is going to give that family their lives back.
"But that sentence needs to serve a purpose and if that purpose is to bring them a sense of justice, to help them move on, but also to get that message to other people out there, those split-second decisions, this is the result that can happen.
"If that makes people take their foot off the accelerator, slow down, or go out and drive sensibly, enjoy their car and enjoy driving, let's get home safely."
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