Speeding hit-and-run driver struck man on his way home from bowling club

A hit-and-run driver who struck a pedestrian as he walked home from an evening at his local bowling club has been given unpaid work.

Mohammed Rashid, 29, was driving his Kia Optima at 41 mph in a 30 mph zone in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire, when the incident occurred eight minutes past midnight on March 11, 2022.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that James Risk, 36, a bricklayer, who was walking home from the bowling club with his brother and friends, stepped off the pavement in front of Rashid’s car and was thrown into the air, landing and striking his head on a kerb.

One witness said he did not think Rashid would have had any time to react.

Mr Risk died of head injuries at the scene.

Instead of stopping, Rashid accelerated away up to 46mph, before driving to his home two-and-a-half miles away, collecting his wife and returning with her to the scene.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton sentenced Rashid to 300 hours of unpaid work plus a 27-month driving ban.

He said: “It cannot be said this tragedy occurred due to a momentary lapse.

“Your average speed was significantly over the speed limit.

“You said you saw drunk people walking on the pavement, yet you took no steps to lower your speed or to distance yourself from the potential danger that those pedestrians might pose.

“The circumstances were tragically straightforward and unfortunately all too common.”

He added that Rashid’s behaviour after the collision was “quite extraordinary”.

Sheriff Hamilton said Mr Risk “was clearly part of a very close family” and would be greatly missed.

He said: “I do not imagine that any sentence I can pass will in any way help Mr Risk’s family gain any sort of closure.

“Nothing I can do is meant to be a reflection of what Mr Risk’s life was worth.”

The court heard that the tragedy was captured on CCTV at a local pub, the Crown Inn, on Main Street.

Prosecutor John Adams said Mr Risk, a bricklayer, had spent the evening playing bowls and drinking alcohol at the Burnhead Bowling Club in nearby Larbert, with his father, brother and friends.

He left the club around midnight with his brother and two friends.

Post-mortem toxicology tests showed the amount of alcohol in his system would have put him several times the drinking limit for driving.

Mr Adams said: “Mr Risk stepped onto the road in front of the car, resulting in Mr Rashid striking him from behind with the front nearside of the car.

“Mr Risk was thrown into the air and landed on the road against the footpath kerbstone.”

His brother and friends went to his aid but found him unresponsive and bleeding extensively from fatal head trauma.

Rashid told police: “I was driving down that road. I seen two people. I think they were drunk… the next thing, there was a bang.”

Police collision investigators noted “very good lighting conditions” at the site of the accident and concluded that the tragedy was caused by the Kia’s excessive speed, Rashid’s failure to look sufficiently far ahead of his vehicle for hazards, and Mr Risk walking on the carriageway rather than the pavement.

Rashid, a customer services advisor of Falkirk, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.

Veteran solicitor Simon Hutchison, defending, said: “In all my years of practice, I have never seen anyone so genuinely remorseful.”

Mr Risk’s family said in a statement at the time: “James was the life and soul of the party. He was loved by everyone who knew him and lit up every room. He was a talented bricklayer and bowler and will be so missed by all of us.

“A light has gone out of our lives but he will be remembered in our hearts forever.”