Surrey taxi driver who 'thought he hit a fox' jailed over fatal crash
The victim (pictured below) suffered a traumatic head injury and died in hospital
A 60-year-old man from Epsom has been sentenced to four months in prison and a six-month driving ban for failing to stop at the scene of a crash.
In May last year Farid Cheheb was working as a taxi driver when he hit a pedestrian on South Street in Epsom.
The pedestrian, 44-year-old Shane Scannell, was left with a series of injuries including a traumatic head injury and later died in hospital.
Cheheb did not stop at the scene, and later claimed that he thought he had hit a fox.
A Forensic Collision Investigator who carried out a reconstruction and used all the evidential material gathered, including damage to Cheheb’s car consistent with a collision, was able to determine that Cheheb should have known he had hit a person and not a fox, and that Mr Scannell should have been clearly visible from more than 10 metres away.
Cheheb , was sentenced at Staines Magistrates Court to an immediate prison sentence of four months, and a driving ban for six months to run alongside this.
Detective Inspector Ben Grilli said, “This was a challenging investigation where there were no witnesses to the actual collision and the vehicle did not stop at the scene.
“It is a testament to the effort put into this investigation that the vehicle was located and a person prosecuted.
“Although the CPS were not satisfied that we could suitably evidence the manner of driving that led to the collision, it is a sign of the amount of evidence secured that the driver received a custodial sentence for a minor summary offence.
“We know that the sentence will provide little comfort to the family, but we hope the sentence will provide an element of closure.”
In June last year the family of Shane Scannell paid tribute to a “son, brother, and uncle, who was loved by so many.”