The appeals court upheld the one-year prison sentence of a driver who fell asleep behind the wheel, killing a pedestrian who was crossing the street.
The court heard that the sleepy 34-year-old driver was earlier convicted of vehicular manslaughter, property damage, reckless driving and endangering the lives of pedestrians.
After the High Criminal Court sentenced him to a year behind bars, he took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to contest the verdict, but judges ruled to uphold it yesterday.
He earlier admitted to the charges during questioning by the Public Prosecution, stating that ‘he was overcome with sleepiness’ when the accident took place.
According to court documents, the accident took place on December 24, at 3.40pm, when the Pakistani appellant was driving a company-owned car westward in the left lane of the Al Farooq Flyover. As he neared the downward ramp heading to Bahrain City Centre, the vehicle veered to the right, colliding with a direction sign, then with a metal barrier, before drifting towards the victim.
The appellant’s vehicle crashed into pedestrian Mohamed Arshad Kala Khan, propelling him five metres forward until he hit another road sign.
The vehicle continued to drift, hitting two more road signs – including a speed limit sign – and ultimately landed upside-down, 22 metres away from the initial collision point, in a tree-filled median strip – the area that separates two lanes.
The victim, Mr Khan, suffered severe injuries from the violent crash, and died from multiple fractures and internal bleeding.
The crash caused damage to the vehicle and to public property, including road signs, traffic barriers and decorative trees.
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