Driver knocked down and killed girl, 5, then left scene to deliver takeaway

18 January 2023 , 05:03

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Minaal was leaving after schoolclub when a delivery driver hit her outside her school gates (Image: stokesentinel)

A delivery driver knocked down and killed a five-year-old girl before carrying on to make his delivery.

Istvan Zarka, hit little Minaal Salam when she stepped out in front of his vehicle shortly after leaving an afterschool club.

She was carried on the bonnet of the Volkswagen Touran for around 10 feet before the vehicle stopped.

But an inquest into her death on Tuesday heard that as the little girl's father held her in his arms, Zarka refused the distraught dad's plea to call an ambulance.

The hearing was told Zarka then carried along Waterside Drive and went into nearby Yeovil Place, around 60 yards up the road from the scene of the collision outside Newstead Primary Academy in Blurton, to deliver a takeaway.

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While the 63-year-old was arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving, he was only driving at around 24mph in the 30mph zone.

He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and driving without business insurance, the inquest heard.

But the charge relating to him failing to stop at the scene was later dropped.

Minaal Salam died after being struck by a car outside her school gates (Stoke Sentinel / BPM Media)

The collision was said by accident investigators to have been "unavoidable", and Minaal, of Edme Grove, in Barlaston, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Assistant coroner Emma Serrano, presiding over the inquest into little Minaal's death, said it had been a "tragic accident".

PC Matthew Brailsford gave Mr Salam's account of the events of the collision, which happened at around 5.30pm on April 1 last year.

He said: "Abdus stood at the side of the road and looked both ways four or five times. Minaal took one step out in the road. A car came down the road. He only saw it coming when it was one foot away.

"Minaal fell forward onto the bonnet. It carried her for about 10 feet before it stopped. He put the car seat down. He held her in his arms.

"He said to the driver: 'You hit my daughter, can you please help me and call an ambulance?' The driver said 'No, go away' and drove off down the road. Abdus gave CPR and shouted for help. He said it was 20 minutes before anyone came and 20 minutes later before the ambulance came."

Minaal was just five (stokesentinel)

It is possible that a Mercedes may have impeded the view of both pedestrians and the driver, the hearing heard.

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Area coroner Emma Serrano said: "She passed away as the result of an accident. A tragic accident, but nevertheless, it's an accident."

Mum Alia Anum Salam, who was present at the inquest said: "There is not a single moment where I don't miss her. She was very loving.

"She would help me with the groceries, and help me with the cooking. She loved cooking. She wanted me to pass all my recipes to her when she grew up. She wanted to be a doctor like her dad.

"It's very painful. I am not the same person anymore. I am bitter. I don't think I am kind because I feel like there's no good in the world because that happened to me. She was just a child."

Flora Byatt