Thug who killed boy, 8, in horror crash before grinning for mugshot is jailed
A speeding thug who mowed down and killed an eight-year-old boy on a pedestrian crossing outside a mosque in East London has been jailed for 12 years.
Unlicensed and uninsured biker Nicholas Hopkins, 20, ploughed into little Mustafa Ahmed as he crossed the with his dad Mohamed Mao, 49, and 11-year-old brother Ahmed Ahmed. All three were injured in the smash and needed hospital treatment but Mustafa died at the scene outside Greenwich Islamic Centre on February 19 last year.
The court saw harrowing CCTV footage of Hopkins going through the red light on Plumstead Road at 58mph in a 30mph zone on his Yamaha Thundercat at around 7.30pm and careering into Mohamed and his two sons, sending them flying. Mustafa went under a stationary car and was immediately unconscious. Within an hour of the collision, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
After his arrest, Hopkins broadly grinned for his police custody photo. Following the collision, Mohamed was placed in an induced coma and needed surgery, having suffered a severe head injury and a shattered hip, among other injuries. He told the Mirror he did not even remember he had a son who had died when he woke up. Mustafa's brother also suffered numerous injuries, including a ruptured liver. The family had been on their way to evening prayers at the time of the crash, which happened on Plumstead Road - having walked from their home in Woolwich Dockyard.
Hopkins - who was himself injured in the incident and taken to hospital for treatment - in November last year pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by driving unlicensed, causing death whilst uninsured, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and possession of Class B drugs.
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He was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at the same court. During his sentencing today, the same court heard he was on bail from earlier domestic violence matters against his ex-girlfriend at the time of the collision. He threatened his ex-girlfriend with a pair of scissors before assaulting her and strangling her on October 16 2022.
He pleaded guilty to threatening with an offensive weapon in a private place, actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation. He was jailed for 10 years and eight months for death by dangerous driving, with 16 months consecutive for the assault on his ex - making 12 years total. He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.
Nicholas Hopkins grinned for his mugshot after being arrested (Metropolitan Police / SWNS)
Mohamed Mao, 49, was placed in an induced coma and needed surgery, having suffered a severe head injury and a shattered hip (Daily Mirror)Prosecuting, Louise Oakley said the defendant also has one conviction for an offence of robbery in July 2020. She said of the family-of-three: "Their journey on foot caused them to walk close to the road and it was a journey they had done many times before. CCTV shows Mohamed and his two children standing at that set of lights.
"The speed limit in that area is 30 mph. CCTV can show traffic slowing and a green light appearing. Mohamed and his two children began to cross the road, closest to the traffic on their left hand side was Mustafa, then his father and then Ahmed. As they began to cross, a motorbike driven by this defendant drove straight through the red lights and as he did so he drove directly into Mohamed, Mustafa and the other boy.
"This defendant brake lighted only 0.6 seconds before the point of impact. The defendant’s motorbike then crashed into the back of a parked vehicle. Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet. Unusually, he was wearing a pair of blue latex gloves, at the time of the incident the motorbike was registered to the defendant and his home address.
"Despite having the vehicle registered to him, he did not have a drivers’ licence and he was not insured. Other road users had to take emergency or evasive action because of his actions. The CCTV shows Mohammed and his children being catapulted into the air.
Mustafa and his dad Mohamed
Mustafa (left) with his brother Ahmed"Mustafa had the most serious injuries, in fact proving fatal, he landed under a parked car. There were catastrophic’ injuries to all three. Within a matter of minutes, police and London Ambulance Service were on the scene. Despite the best efforts of emergency services, Mustafa died at 8.27pm."
Mohamed and Ahmed were taken to King’s Cross Hospital. The dad had suffered a number of injuries, including a serious head injury, extensive trauma to the abdomen of the left hip, a front to back fracture of the pubic bone and a fracture of the pelvis and hip bone as well as a fractured and dislocated left ankle.
He also suffered serious soft tissue injuries to his left kidney and internal damage due to the pelvis fracture. Mohamed underwent several operations and while recovering from one of them, developed sepsis. It was not until March 13 he was taken from intensive care to a surgical unit.
Ms Oakley continued: "For him, it was some time before he learnt that his youngest son had in fact been killed. Having remained in hospital he developed a blood clot in the right lung, which required an operation to get that drained. As a result of the injuries he sustained, without doubt I am going to describe them as life changing. He is unable to work and he was as far as this family is concerned the bread winner."
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Ahmed suffered serious head, neck and spleen injuries and an open wound to his left leg. He also struggled with infections and was required to wear a neck brace for six months. Witnesses described the sound of Hopkins’ bike crashing into the back of the car as "like a bomb".
Mohamed returned to the scene in October last year (The Daily Mirror)The court also heard how Hopkins, of Burrage Grove, Plumstead, had deliberately covered up his number plates to avoid CCTV capturing his speeding. Judge Freya Newbery told Hopkins: "You’re 20 years old and you will be 21 in just a few weeks time. It falls to me to sentence you for a number of serious offences, principally to causing death by dangerous driving... The traffic lights were red for you and there were other vehicles stopped at the light.
"You only had a provisional licence, you should have had a full licence to ride your motorbike on the road. It is quite clear that for a prolonged period beforehand, you were travelling about twice as fast as the rest of the traffic. You certainly just moments before were travelling at nearly 60 mph, it does not appear you braked except for fractions before the collision.
"It sounded that in fact you were accelerating. You ignored the red traffic light, you ignored the stationary vehicles and you ignored that pedestrians were in fact crossing. The scene was horrific, there were many onlookers, pedestrians and other drivers, who witnessed the family struck and flung over the road by the force of the impact, all with very serious injuries."
She continued: "You yourself suffered a serious head injury and have post traumatic amnesia, you do not remember it at all. This brief summary can’t really do justice to the family’s suffering.
"In fact Ms Ahmed rushed to the scene and saw the evidence of a serious accident and saw Mustafa’s shoes on the side of the road. She found out shortly after that Mustafa had died and that her husband and eldest son were in hospital. He was an amazing little boy and is so very much missed, the youngest boy and the baby of the family.
"He was full of stories when he got back from school, where he was also very popular. Grief does not end for the family and they are adjusting to a new life that they did not want or imagine. They have not been able to attend family gatherings for the sheer guilt of having survived their golden boy."
The crash took place on February 19 (Jamie Lashmar / Story Picture Agency)Sarah Abuukar, the aunt of Mustafa, said in a moving victim impact statement: "On Sunday, February 19, my sister got a call informing her of an accident that happened in Plumstead involving her husband and sons. At this moment we felt a surge of emotion, but we hoped they would be okay once we got to the hospital.
"Unfortunately, our beautiful little boy lost his life and died at the scene due to the injuries he sustained. Mustafa was like a son I never birthed, he was everyone’s golden boy, he wanted to be a professional footballer and other times he wanted to be a pilot.
"He was the youngest and the baby of the family but he always claimed he was a big man. He would have endless stories after school. He was empathetic and kind. No parent should have to bury their child. Our loss is unnatural and it is a degree of suffering that is impossible to grasp.
"We will make sure that his name will be remembered among the generations to come. He is in Heaven where he belongs as he was too good for this cruel world. Our family will never be the same and there will be a permanent hole in our hearts."
Mohamed agreed to return to the scene with the Mirror on October 19 last year to speak about the accident, he and Ahmed's ongoing recovery, and his family's heartbreak. The bus driver, originally from Somalia, had not been able to work since the incident and, walking on crutches, he was awaiting a hip replacement.
Greenwich Islamic Centre (Google Maps)"I can't remember anything, I don't know what happened that night," he explained. He understands from witness accounts the lights were on red as they crossed. The junction has been an issue raised to the council before, with locals complaining that motorists drive too fast and approach the lights almost blindly. They also say the lights don't stay red long enough, with multiple other accidents occurring. Mohamed's last memory of Mustafa was a few days before. "I went for a walk, just me and him, along the River Thames near our house," he said, smiling. "We used to go along there a lot. That's all I can remember."
Mohamed was in a coma for around two months, he believes, and then weeks of therapy took place before doctors deemed he was of stable enough mind to tell him what happened. "When I woke up, I didn't remember anything, I didn't know my wife, I didn't know anybody," he said. "I didn't know the reason I was there."
Recalling when he was finally told of his son's passing, Mohamed said: "It came up after I had speech and language therapy every day for a few weeks. Then I remembered who I am. I lost so many things. I knew nothing at all." Even on being told about Mustafa - who he could by then remember - he said: "I was still confused a bit, they told me about my son about two months later. When they saw I was speaking better, they called me into a room, with my wife and the doctors and told me what happened.
"It was very bad, I wasn't thinking properly, but I was feeling very bad. I felt guilty; that it happened because I took him from home that day. I used to think it was because of me. I used to think that way." However, Mohamed said his Muslim faith helped him during the grieving process and he accepts he cannot change what happened. "It was our destiny," he said.
Asked how Ahmed's recovery has gone, he said: "He's recovered but not perfectly. He likes to be alone, he's quiet all the time. He wants to be sitting alone and keep quiet. Before he was more open. He was very outgoing; now he's withdrawn, even at school."
Mohamed said he and mum Heyfa Akubar, 43, will sometimes ask Ahmed about his brother and what happened, but he refuses to answer. "They were very close, the only boys in the house," he explained. "He doesn't want to talk about it. We even try to talk to him, me and his mum, we ask him things or talk about his brother but he won't."
Mohamed continues to use the same Islamic centre but now has to be taken by car. However, Heyfa prays at a different mosque. Friend Swaleh Bocus, who joined Mohamed at the scene to speak to the Mirror, said he had been praying inside the centre when it was announced there had been an accident. The congregation all went outside.
Swaleh said he saw Heyfa come rushing through the police cordon and collapse to the ground in tears - though he didn't recognise her at first. He said: "I saw a lady crossing the police cordon so I shouted 'you are not allowed to go there', not knowing that was the mum. She had seen her son's things, she knew he had died. She just fell down and collapsed and the officers and paramedics surrounded her to comfort her. She didn't stand up for nearly half an hour, she was just crying. They said 'leave her! Don't run to her! She's the mum!' She could see the boy."
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