>**Nuria Sajjad was killed by a car on her last day of term in Wimbledon. Six months on her parents are sharing her final photograph and demanding answers from the Met**
>
>**Glen Keogh**
>
>**The Sunday Times**
>
>The pupils at The Study, an all-girls preparatory school in Wimbledon, southwest London, were having an end-of-term tea party on a sunny morning in July.
>
>Nuria Sajjad, eight, had just played the recorder at an assembly to mark the occasion and read out her “hopes and dreams” for the summer, in which she talked about looking forward to a school trip to the Isle of Wight.
>
>Cuddled by her mother, she posed for a photograph taken by another parent at the school at 9.52am. Less than a minute later, the first call to 999 was placed.
>
>A gold and black Land Rover had crashed through the fence into the playground where the girls had gathered with their parents to mark the start of the long summer holiday. Had it happened the following day, the playground would have been empty.
>
>Three days later, Nuria died in hospital. Her classmate Selena Lau, eight, was also killed. More than a dozen others were injured. The driver, a woman in her forties, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been bailed until January.
>
>Nuria’s mother, Smera Chohan, 47, suffered eight broken ribs, a fractured spine, a broken shoulder and a broken pelvis. She has had three surgical operations, with a fourth to come next month.
>
>Her husband, Sajjad Butt, a sales manager at the outsourcing company Mitie, had momentarily gone to get a coffee while his wife and daughter posed for their photograph. He was physically unharmed but witnessed the incident.
>
>“The ambulance came and then the air ambulance. I stood back knowing there was nothing I could do,” he said. “It was utter disbelief. The level of disbelief was enormous.”
>
>Nearly six months on, the family are speaking out today to pay tribute to their daughter, and to question the alleged delay in the Metropolitan Police’s investigation. “We have started asking questions and there are still no answers,” Smera said. “Make this case a priority.”
>
>Due to the severity of her own injuries, Smera, an HR manager for the banking giant NatWest, was unable to say goodbye to her daughter in the way that she wanted. The nurses put her in a wheelchair to be with Nuria when the life-support machine was switched off, but she was unable to hug her.
>
>“I didn’t get to give her the last hug that I so badly miss now. If I could, I would go back. Because of my own broken body and hers, I couldn’t lift her up in my arms to say goodbye. It’s never going to make sense. It is never going to be OK.”
>
>The couple, who live in Kingston-upon-Thames, are struggling to deal with the “injustice” of how, in a matter of seconds, their family was destroyed.
>
>Nuria was their only child. Smera contracted lupus, a condition that affects the immune system, two years after she and Sajjad married, and she was warned from the outset that any pregnancy would be deemed high risk, with possible complications. “We carried all of this but she was born perfect,” she said. “She became our reason for being.”
>
>Today they are left wondering who they are without their daughter. “If parents pass away, you call the children orphans,” said Smera, clutching one of her daughter’s favourite soft toys, a Squishmallow called Clover. “What do you call us? This is not the natural way.”
>
>Nuria was a typical eight-year-old. She loved gymnastics, dancing and Disney films, and was “so full of happiness”, according to her father.
>
>Continued in part 2
>Part 2
>
>On the morning of the incident, Smera plaited Nuria’s hair as her daughter told her how excited she was for school. It was a big day. After the summer holidays, when the family had plans to go to Tenerife, Nuria and the rest of her year were due to start in a different school building.
>
>Nuria’s bedroom remains exactly as it was on the morning of July 6. The clothes she had laid out to wear after school are still there. Her 49 Barbie dolls are neatly arranged in a basket. Books are stacked neatly by her bedside. Smera planned to give Nuria the Barbie she had had as a child, to coincide with the release of the summer’s blockbuster film.
>
>Downstairs, in her playroom, Nuria’s colouring pens lie on a small desk. She was midway through colouring a scene bearing the words “happy summer”. A school certificate for “star of the week” is on show. A tiny AFC Wimbledon shirt bearing the name “Nuria” and the number eight on the back hangs on the wall, a gift from the club following her death.
>
>As a result of her own extensive injuries, Smera struggles to recall details of the incident, but she is racked by guilt that she could have done more to help her daughter. Sitting at their dining table, Sajjad, 44, holds her hand, assuring her there was nothing she could have done. “She may have thought her mummy was going to save her,” Smera said.
>
>Mother and daughter were both taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, southwest London. The family cannot fault the doctors’ fight to save their daughter’s life.
>
>When Sajjad arrived at the hospital, the “paramedic asked who I was.”, he recalled. “I told him and he told everyone to get out of the way so I could give her [Nuria] a kiss on the head” because there were concerns she would not survive. The next time he saw her, she was in intensive care.
>
>Smera, who used to run the school’s parents’ association, remained in hospital for 11 days, electing after that to return home for treatment “before her [Nuria’s] smell had left the house”.
>
>“I had to come back to her things,” she said. “I wanted to make sure the playroom and her bedroom wasn’t touched.”
>
>Sajjad describes the difficulty of those first few days, even with the support and kindness of relatives, friends and other parents at the school. “We just sat in Nuria’s room and howled,” he said. “It was more than crying. I was even worried about Smera’s will to live lasting through the night, let alone the rest of our lives. It was very hard.”
>
>Now, however, the couple are determined to find out what exactly happened that day. Although there is not thought to be any suspicion of drink or drug-driving, other questions remain unanswered. “We just want accountability,” Sajjad said. “Our daughter had so much to offer this world. She has been denied that.”
>
>An inquest into Nuria’s death has been opened and adjourned. The family are being supported by Trevor Sterling, a lawyer from the firm Moore Barlow, who is also representing about 20 people injured that day looking to claim compensation from the driver in a civil case.
>
>Sterling said: “Here we have seen a vehicle cause harm to many and take the lives of two girls, and six months on we still don’t have answers as to why. In this situation, the families shouldn’t have to wait this long. The pain gets worse.”
>
>Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland, in charge of policing for southwest London, said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Nuria and Selena, who we know are greatly loved and missed. This was a tragic incident and we understand that the families want and need answers as to what happened. We are continuing to give them specialist support through our dedicated family liaison officers, who are providing updates on the investigation where they can.
>
>“Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day, including analysing CCTV and examining the expert report from forensic collision investigators. We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.”
Why is this taking so long to come up with charges?
Awful tragedy. I find myself thinking about this often, the impact on their family and the utter devastation I’d feel had this happened to my own children.
The one point that stands out to me without knowing all the facts or needing an investigation – would this have happened had the driver not been behind the wheel of a Land Rover. I suspect not. These monstrous ‘cars’ are not cars at all. Wholly unnecessary in urban environments and danger to all but the driver. They are a status symbol doubling as a display of wealth and an utter disregard for the rest of society.
Please let this be the catalyst for their phasing them out of urban environments. If not this, what exactly will it take? Write to your MP, make it all election issue before the next child is killed.
>a lawyer from the firm Moore Barlow, who is also representing about 20 people injured that day looking to claim compensation from the driver in a civil case.
Of course. This is a posher version of ambulance chasing.
I hope the families haven’t been cajoled into thinking *this* is justice, because it isn’t.
Tough read.
I’ve not been able to look at those new Defenders the same way since this was in the news. Totally inappropriate vehicles for an urban commute.
We really need some more disincentives against this current arms race of ever bigger and heavier cars.
She should be lobbying the community to stop buying land rovers!
I thought this had been closed? Pretty sure other reports said the driver had a stroke at the wheel.
This whole event just makes me so sad. Sickens me.
Every day I leave my kids to a happy primary school, knowing that the good people working there will keep them safe.
Something so random like this can still happen.
Even here we have the lawyers for the family saying “a vehicle cause(ed) harm to many”. Sorry but it was the driver. Humans in charge of deadly machinery need to be accountable for their actions
There should be an interim report if there was a medical incident. Silence is not good enough.
I had to go back and look for this, which happened near to me.
The guy driving the car claimed that the steering, engine and brakes all acted unusually, which caused him to crash into a pram and kill a baby.
Police mechanics looked at the car and said there was nothing wrong which would cause the car to react as he said it did.
The driver insisted, and was let off Scott free.
We will probably see similar justice in this new case where, not only avoiding criminal prosecution, the driver will also take no personal responsibility for what happened that day.
I could be wrong but it seems highly unusual to me that the driver hasn’t been named and that the circumstances of the incident remain so opaque so long afterwards. It suggests to me that the driver has some particular wealth, fame or connections.
13 comments
>**Nuria Sajjad was killed by a car on her last day of term in Wimbledon. Six months on her parents are sharing her final photograph and demanding answers from the Met**
>
>**Glen Keogh**
>
>**The Sunday Times**
>
>The pupils at The Study, an all-girls preparatory school in Wimbledon, southwest London, were having an end-of-term tea party on a sunny morning in July.
>
>Nuria Sajjad, eight, had just played the recorder at an assembly to mark the occasion and read out her “hopes and dreams” for the summer, in which she talked about looking forward to a school trip to the Isle of Wight.
>
>Cuddled by her mother, she posed for a photograph taken by another parent at the school at 9.52am. Less than a minute later, the first call to 999 was placed.
>
>A gold and black Land Rover had crashed through the fence into the playground where the girls had gathered with their parents to mark the start of the long summer holiday. Had it happened the following day, the playground would have been empty.
>
>Three days later, Nuria died in hospital. Her classmate Selena Lau, eight, was also killed. More than a dozen others were injured. The driver, a woman in her forties, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been bailed until January.
>
>Nuria’s mother, Smera Chohan, 47, suffered eight broken ribs, a fractured spine, a broken shoulder and a broken pelvis. She has had three surgical operations, with a fourth to come next month.
>
>Her husband, Sajjad Butt, a sales manager at the outsourcing company Mitie, had momentarily gone to get a coffee while his wife and daughter posed for their photograph. He was physically unharmed but witnessed the incident.
>
>“The ambulance came and then the air ambulance. I stood back knowing there was nothing I could do,” he said. “It was utter disbelief. The level of disbelief was enormous.”
>
>Nearly six months on, the family are speaking out today to pay tribute to their daughter, and to question the alleged delay in the Metropolitan Police’s investigation. “We have started asking questions and there are still no answers,” Smera said. “Make this case a priority.”
>
>Due to the severity of her own injuries, Smera, an HR manager for the banking giant NatWest, was unable to say goodbye to her daughter in the way that she wanted. The nurses put her in a wheelchair to be with Nuria when the life-support machine was switched off, but she was unable to hug her.
>
>“I didn’t get to give her the last hug that I so badly miss now. If I could, I would go back. Because of my own broken body and hers, I couldn’t lift her up in my arms to say goodbye. It’s never going to make sense. It is never going to be OK.”
>
>The couple, who live in Kingston-upon-Thames, are struggling to deal with the “injustice” of how, in a matter of seconds, their family was destroyed.
>
>Nuria was their only child. Smera contracted lupus, a condition that affects the immune system, two years after she and Sajjad married, and she was warned from the outset that any pregnancy would be deemed high risk, with possible complications. “We carried all of this but she was born perfect,” she said. “She became our reason for being.”
>
>Today they are left wondering who they are without their daughter. “If parents pass away, you call the children orphans,” said Smera, clutching one of her daughter’s favourite soft toys, a Squishmallow called Clover. “What do you call us? This is not the natural way.”
>
>Nuria was a typical eight-year-old. She loved gymnastics, dancing and Disney films, and was “so full of happiness”, according to her father.
>
>Continued in part 2
>Part 2
>
>On the morning of the incident, Smera plaited Nuria’s hair as her daughter told her how excited she was for school. It was a big day. After the summer holidays, when the family had plans to go to Tenerife, Nuria and the rest of her year were due to start in a different school building.
>
>Nuria’s bedroom remains exactly as it was on the morning of July 6. The clothes she had laid out to wear after school are still there. Her 49 Barbie dolls are neatly arranged in a basket. Books are stacked neatly by her bedside. Smera planned to give Nuria the Barbie she had had as a child, to coincide with the release of the summer’s blockbuster film.
>
>Downstairs, in her playroom, Nuria’s colouring pens lie on a small desk. She was midway through colouring a scene bearing the words “happy summer”. A school certificate for “star of the week” is on show. A tiny AFC Wimbledon shirt bearing the name “Nuria” and the number eight on the back hangs on the wall, a gift from the club following her death.
>
>As a result of her own extensive injuries, Smera struggles to recall details of the incident, but she is racked by guilt that she could have done more to help her daughter. Sitting at their dining table, Sajjad, 44, holds her hand, assuring her there was nothing she could have done. “She may have thought her mummy was going to save her,” Smera said.
>
>Mother and daughter were both taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, southwest London. The family cannot fault the doctors’ fight to save their daughter’s life.
>
>When Sajjad arrived at the hospital, the “paramedic asked who I was.”, he recalled. “I told him and he told everyone to get out of the way so I could give her [Nuria] a kiss on the head” because there were concerns she would not survive. The next time he saw her, she was in intensive care.
>
>Smera, who used to run the school’s parents’ association, remained in hospital for 11 days, electing after that to return home for treatment “before her [Nuria’s] smell had left the house”.
>
>“I had to come back to her things,” she said. “I wanted to make sure the playroom and her bedroom wasn’t touched.”
>
>Sajjad describes the difficulty of those first few days, even with the support and kindness of relatives, friends and other parents at the school. “We just sat in Nuria’s room and howled,” he said. “It was more than crying. I was even worried about Smera’s will to live lasting through the night, let alone the rest of our lives. It was very hard.”
>
>Now, however, the couple are determined to find out what exactly happened that day. Although there is not thought to be any suspicion of drink or drug-driving, other questions remain unanswered. “We just want accountability,” Sajjad said. “Our daughter had so much to offer this world. She has been denied that.”
>
>An inquest into Nuria’s death has been opened and adjourned. The family are being supported by Trevor Sterling, a lawyer from the firm Moore Barlow, who is also representing about 20 people injured that day looking to claim compensation from the driver in a civil case.
>
>Sterling said: “Here we have seen a vehicle cause harm to many and take the lives of two girls, and six months on we still don’t have answers as to why. In this situation, the families shouldn’t have to wait this long. The pain gets worse.”
>
>Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland, in charge of policing for southwest London, said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Nuria and Selena, who we know are greatly loved and missed. This was a tragic incident and we understand that the families want and need answers as to what happened. We are continuing to give them specialist support through our dedicated family liaison officers, who are providing updates on the investigation where they can.
>
>“Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day, including analysing CCTV and examining the expert report from forensic collision investigators. We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.”
Why is this taking so long to come up with charges?
Awful tragedy. I find myself thinking about this often, the impact on their family and the utter devastation I’d feel had this happened to my own children.
The one point that stands out to me without knowing all the facts or needing an investigation – would this have happened had the driver not been behind the wheel of a Land Rover. I suspect not. These monstrous ‘cars’ are not cars at all. Wholly unnecessary in urban environments and danger to all but the driver. They are a status symbol doubling as a display of wealth and an utter disregard for the rest of society.
Please let this be the catalyst for their phasing them out of urban environments. If not this, what exactly will it take? Write to your MP, make it all election issue before the next child is killed.
>a lawyer from the firm Moore Barlow, who is also representing about 20 people injured that day looking to claim compensation from the driver in a civil case.
Of course. This is a posher version of ambulance chasing.
I hope the families haven’t been cajoled into thinking *this* is justice, because it isn’t.
Tough read.
I’ve not been able to look at those new Defenders the same way since this was in the news. Totally inappropriate vehicles for an urban commute.
We really need some more disincentives against this current arms race of ever bigger and heavier cars.
She should be lobbying the community to stop buying land rovers!
I thought this had been closed? Pretty sure other reports said the driver had a stroke at the wheel.
This whole event just makes me so sad. Sickens me.
Every day I leave my kids to a happy primary school, knowing that the good people working there will keep them safe.
Something so random like this can still happen.
Even here we have the lawyers for the family saying “a vehicle cause(ed) harm to many”. Sorry but it was the driver. Humans in charge of deadly machinery need to be accountable for their actions
There should be an interim report if there was a medical incident. Silence is not good enough.
https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/baby-killed-as-doctor-drove-up-pavement-6851299.html
I had to go back and look for this, which happened near to me.
The guy driving the car claimed that the steering, engine and brakes all acted unusually, which caused him to crash into a pram and kill a baby.
Police mechanics looked at the car and said there was nothing wrong which would cause the car to react as he said it did.
The driver insisted, and was let off Scott free.
We will probably see similar justice in this new case where, not only avoiding criminal prosecution, the driver will also take no personal responsibility for what happened that day.
I could be wrong but it seems highly unusual to me that the driver hasn’t been named and that the circumstances of the incident remain so opaque so long afterwards. It suggests to me that the driver has some particular wealth, fame or connections.