Speeding driver who killed student on pavement jailed

A speeding driver who mounted a pavement and crushed a student to death has been jailed.

Akbar Razaq was doing 60mph in a 30mph zone when his Audi hit another car and came off the road near Charing Cross in Glasgow city centre on 2 February 2023.

Chinenye Okonkwo, 33, from Nigeria, was waiting to cross the road and was crushed between railings and the front of Razaq's car. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Razaq, 30, was jailed for three years and four months having earlier admitted a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

He was also banned from the road for a total of eight years and two months.

Members of Ms Okonkwo's family watched the sentencing hearing from their home country.

Ms Okonkwo had moved to the UK in 2022 and was studying Public Health at the city's Caledonian University.

She also had a part-time job at a nursing home in the city's east-end.

Ms Okonkwo had been walking to work when she was hit by the vehicle.

The court heard Razaq's Audi A4 was hit by a Ford Fiesta seconds before it mounted the pavement and struck a traffic light post.

Ms Okonkwo, who was standing at the junction of Newton Street and St Vincent Street, was then struck by both the car and the pole.

Razaq got out to "remonstrate" with the other driver.

It was only then that a passenger in his Audi spotted Ms Okonkwo under the vehicle.

The court heard Ms Okonkwo received "extensive advanced life support" at the scene, but did not recover.

Crash investigators concluded that the collision was caused by "negligence on the part of both drivers".

But prosecutor Alex Prentice KC added: "Despite different degrees of responsibility, it is also their opinion that the blame for the death is attributed to the driver of the Audi due to his dangerous manner of driving at excessive speed.

"Had he driven within permitted speed limits, it is unlikely the collision would have occurred."

The investigators added that the Ford Fiesta driver had not performed "final safety checks" before carrying out the turn.

However, it was said she "could not reasonably expect" the Audi to have been approaching her "at such excessive speed".

The Ford Fiesta driver had also initially been charged, but she no longer faces prosecution.

John Scullion KC, defending, said Razaq "bitterly regrets his involvement in the death".

Lord Mulholland said Ms Okonkwo was a woman with a "great future" and that no sentence would compensate for the loss her family had suffered.

The judge told Razaq: "It is a tragedy this happened and it did not need to happen.

"If you have been driving at a safe speed, it would not have happened."

He cut the jail-term from four and a half years due to the guilty plea.