Latest news with #pregnantstudent
Sky News
2 days ago
- Sky News
Hit-and-run driver jailed for 13 years over baby's death
A driver who knocked down a pregnant student, killing her baby boy, has been jailed for 13 years. Renju Joseph, 31, was struck by a speeding car driven by 20-year-old Ashir Shahid at a zebra crossing in the village of Bamber Bridge, near Preston, Lancashire. The Toyota Prius driven by Shahid was thought to be going at speeds between 58mph and 71mph in a 30mph zone, in dark and wet conditions, Preston Crown Court heard. Mrs Joseph, who was five months pregnant at the time, was taken to hospital from the scene in Station Road in the early evening of 29 September 2024. Doctors carried out an emergency C-section to try to save the life of her son, Olive. The woman was walking slightly behind two female colleagues on the crossing around 7.50pm as they made their way to a night shift at a nearby care home. A motorist driving in the opposite direction reported that the Prius appeared to accelerate about 15 metres before reaching the crossing, then swerved to avoid the two pedestrians ahead. The pregnant woman was hit and "thrown into the air for quite some distance" before she tumbled and rolled into his car, according to the witness. Prosecutors said Shahid's driving before the collision also "left a lot to be desired". Footage recovered from the mobile phones of Shahid and his 17-year-old younger brother, Sam Shahid, who was in the front passenger seat, showed the pair laughing and singing along to music while the car was being driven recklessly and at high speed. Sam Shahid was also seen sticking his feet and upper body out of the window while the driver occasionally took both hands off the wheel and made gun gestures. Minutes after the collision, the Toyota was abandoned in a side street and covered with a sheet by the defendants. Others then moved the vehicle onto the back of a flatbed truck and dumped it in Farnworth, Greater Manchester. Ashir Shahid was arrested days later and made no comment when interviewed, but when his phone was examined, it revealed that on the night of the collision, he made an online search for "charge for hit and run human". Ashir Shahid, of Walton le Dale, Preston, pleaded guilty in June to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. On Friday, he was also banned from driving for 15 years and one month, and must pass an extended retest. Sam Shahid, also of Windsor Road, was detained for three years after he pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. During sentencing, Judge Ian Unsworth KC remarked that Ashir Shahid's acceleration just before the crash was "similar to what you might witness on a Formula 1 racetrack". He said: "Your driving was nothing less than appalling. You engaged in a prolonged and persistent course of dangerous driving. "Your speed was significantly in excess of the speed limit and was highly inappropriate for the prevailing road conditions. "Olive's life lasted five hours and 38 minutes. He did not live to see dawn. His mother never saw him alive. His life was snubbed out before it really began." Mrs Joseph spent a fortnight in a coma before she learned of the death of her son, the court heard. She and her nurse husband, Nyjil Jonn, both originally from India, had planned a gender reveal party at a baby shower for family and friends on 2 October. One of her last memories before the collision was buying a dress to wear for the occasion, she said in a victim personal statement read out to the court. Mrs Joseph said: "Everything has been ruined by that one night and the callous and reckless actions of those two people in that car. My life will never by the same again."
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
Teacher, 55, wins £250,000 compensation after she was sacked for failing to report a 12-year-old pupil was pregnant
A veteran teacher who was sacked for failing to report her concerns about a pregnant 12-year-old has won almost £250,000 after a tribunal ruled she had been wrongly blamed for a 'collectively made mistake'. Mary-Ann Pearson, 55, claimed that although she had noticed the student had put on weight, she had no idea that she was expecting. The 'conscientious, thoughtful and caring' business and social sciences teacher was accused of not alerting her superiors to the situation and was fired for gross misconduct. But an employment tribunal found that staff members at Greenwood Academies Trust were oblivious to what had happened to the student and 'systemic and institutional safeguarding failures' had been made. Ms Pearson was awarded £248,184.38 in total for her claims, which included unfair dismissal. The tribunal, heard in Bury St Edmunds, was told that Ms Pearson had been a teacher for 31 years, and had spent 17 of those years at Greenwood, which runs 38 academies, mostly in the Midlands. She started working for the trust as a PE teacher in 2005, before becoming a business, computing and social sciences teacher in 2015. Ms Pearson became the form tutor for a 12-year-old student referred to only as pupil A by the tribunal in September 2022. She was not made aware of the fact that a safeguarding referral had been made in June of that year after an allegation was made that pupil A was being met after school by a convicted sex offender. Ms Pearson also did not know that pupil A's former tutor and other members of staff had raised concerns in the previous school year about her mental health, including her self harming. The tribunal heard: 'Sarah Lightbody, head of safeguarding told the Tribunal that sensitive information around safeguarding is tightly governed and is only shared with necessary members of staff. 'She said that because concerns had 'died down' and 'tailed off' in the summer, they were not considered to be current concerns to be passed onto [Ms Pearson] as the new form tutor.' In January 2023, Ms Pearson called pupil A's mother after the student swore at a teacher. She had 'observed that A had put on weight but did not consider that appropriate to comment on'. Nonetheless, the two ended up speaking about pupil A's health because her mother was concerned about stomach cramps she had been having. Ms Pearson planned to speak to Ms Lightbody about the conversation, though she still 'did not suspect or know that A was pregnant at this stage, just that there may be a health issue', the tribunal heard. Before she was able to do this, Ms Lightbody sent an email instructing staff not to contact pupil A's mother about attendance. Ms Pearson then asked to speak to the safeguarding head because she was concerned she had done something wrong by calling the mother. Ms Lightbody had in fact sent the email that day because she became aware that pupil A 'had been the victim of severe sexual abuse and was approximately 33 weeks pregnant, the father of the baby being a family member'. In February 2023, Ms Pearson and Ms Lightbody had a conversation in which the business teacher was told about pupil A's situation. Ms Lightbody denied that she informed Ms Pearson of the pregnancy during that conversation. The tribunal heard: 'Sarah Lightbody says that she asked [Ms Pearson] when she had suspicions about A being a victim of abuse and that [Ms Pearson] said, since September 2022. '[Ms Pearson] categorically denies this and pre-existing suspicion or knowledge about A experiencing abuse and/or pregnancy. 'She states that it was only after having been told of A's pregnancy by Sarah Lightbody that she looked back in retrospect and started to piece together the information about poor attendance, sickness and weight gain - but only after being told of the pregnancy.' The tribunal found that Ms Lightbody had, in fact, informed Ms Pearson of pupil A's pregnancy in this conversation. Ms Lightbody emailed Principal Todd Johnson after the interaction, and an internal investigation was launched. This investigation was littered with procedural issues, the tribunal found. Following a disciplinary hearing in April 2023, Mr Johnson found that 'non-reporting of safeguarding concerns did happen and amounted to gross misconduct', and he fired Ms Pearson. In her appeal lodged a month later, Ms Pearson said: 'The same guilt I felt in not putting all the pieces together could well and rightly be felt by all adults who had interaction with A either as core subject teachers who may have taught her at least three hours or more weekly, or the attendance team as A's attendance had been below 90% since September.' The tribunal found that Ms Pearson 'had a good history of reporting concerns' and 'had also previously recorded a concern about a student who was pregnant'. It said, having observed Ms Pearson give evidence, that she was 'a conscientious, thoughtful and caring teacher who would not have failed to act if she knew or suspected her 12-year-old pupil was pregnant'. Ms Lightbody said: 'Without the suspicion of pregnancy being raised, opportunities to do this missed, and in my opinion, as a byproduct of the Claimant's inaction, A went on to experience further life-altering sexual abuse and trauma.' The tribunal said that opportunities were 'only missed, because the safeguarding team failed to sufficiently act on what they already knew'. Employment Judge Islam said: 'The Tribunal rejects the suggestion that concerns about a 12-year-old with a history of mental health issues, including self-harm and concerns about possible interaction with a known paedophile are the types of concerns that evaporate over the summer holiday.' The judge added: 'The Tribunal was concerned with what appeared to be a total refusal by the [Greenwood] witnesses to consider and reflect upon, what were clearly systemic and institutional safeguarding failures in respect of A. 'The reality is, all staff were oblivious as to what was really going on with A. 'Rather than focus on remedying a collectively made mistake, unfortunately [Greenwood] has insisted on singularly blaming the failure on [Ms Pearson]. 'Whilst beyond the remit of our jurisdiction, we hope that lessons are learned for the future to ensure the safety of children within the Trust.' The tribunal found that Ms Pearson had been unfairly dismissed, and other claims she made were also successful. Ms Pearson said her dismissal for safeguarding concerns sent her to 'breaking point' - she has been on antidepressants since June 2023 - and led to her marriage breaking down. The tribunal heard that at one point in her search for a new job in the education sector, she was 'escorted off site by the headteacher after having to share the reason for dismissal'. Ms Pearson was awarded £92,629 for financial loss, £36,341 for future financial loss and £22,277 for injury to feelings.
