'Exceptional' man killed after heartless Sheffield driver ran him over on pavement and left him for dead

The sister of a beloved man, and record-breaking rower, has condemned the Sheffield driver responsible for his death, saying that knowing her brother was left 'suffering so badly in the street' after the heartless criminal fled the scene 'is hard to bear'.

Sean Crowley, aged 58, was walking down Regent Street in Sheffield city centre at around 1.30am on August 22, 2021, when Mohammed Abullah mounted the pavement with his black Vauxhall Insignia vehicle, hitting Mr Crowley from behind and inflicting fatal injuries upon him. The killer driver did not stop at the scene.

Sentencing Abdullah during a July 12, 2023 hearing at Sheffield Crown Court, Judge David Dixon told him: "Mr Crowley was simply walking down the pavement on Regent Street, as he was fully entitled to do...you came round the bend of that corner, mounted the pavement, and as far as I could tell from the footage, made no attempt to brake at all. You went straight into Mr Crowley, as he was walking down the pavement. He stays on the car for a few moments before he then falls off, and on to the pavement.

"You made no effort to stop all you, you continue on, you continue on for some distance."

"What's of particular note is you didn't stop, and you knew you had hit someone. There would have been no possibility that you didn't know becuase of the damage to your windscreen, which was significant. It must have been nigh-on impossible for you to see through it, that didn't matter to you."

Cowardly Abdullah subsequently abandoned his car on Bolsover Road, Page Hall, and did not hand himself in for days following the crash, meaning it was not possible for him to tested to see whether he had alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the fatal inicident.

But after viewing CCTV taken from a variety of city centre locations, showing Abdullah walk to his car with a takeaway, Judge Dixon said, in his view, Abdullah appeared to be 'drunk' in the minutes before it took place.

"You are wavering from side to side, just missing a lampost, those sort of things, when it is clear your judgement is impaired, your mobility isn't as precise as it should be," Judge Dixon said, adding: "You must have known the state you were in. And if you didn't when you got in the car, it must have been clear when you started to drive."

While Abdullah failed to check on or seek medical attention to help Mr Crowley after mowing him down, a group of good samaritans stopped, called an ambulance and stayed with him while they waited for it to arrive.

Prosecuting barrister, Laura Marshall, said: "They should be commended for the fact they stayed with Mr Crowley, sought medical assistance and offered him comfort, albeit, it would have been clear to them that he was unconscious."

Mr Crowley was taken to hospital, and died a month later on September 21, 2021.

In an emotional statement penned by Mr Crowley's sister, and read out in court by her friend, Gina Johnson, she detailed how as Mr Crowley fought for his life, it was devastating to know that 'if he survived, his life would no longer be worth living' due to the severity of his injuries.

Mr Crowley's sister described her brother as an 'amazing human being' who was 'kind, generous' and the type of person you could 'lean on'. She said Mr Crowley previously held a world-record for being the youngest rower to sail across the Atlantic solo, and in a boat he made himself.

Mr Crowley held the world record for being the youngest person to row across the Atlantic solo, after rowing from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Clifden in Ireland.

Mr Crowley beat cancer as a young adult, spent his adult life as a hard-working man, and had been saving to move to Spain so he could enjoy the 'Spanish sunshine'.

She said Mr Crowley had his life 'taken from him,' adding: "Everyone who knew him was heartbroken when they heard what had happened to him."

"He was killed by a stranger who didn't even bother to stop...to know that the driver made the decision to leave him in the road, so badly injured and suffering makes it hard to bear.

"The driver may be put in prison for some time, but my brother is gone forever."

Abdullah, of the Wincobank area, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Judge Dixon said he had taken a number of mitigating factors put forward on Abdullah's behalf into account, such as character references which detail the efforts he made to 'change' his 'life' after his release from a five-year prison sentence.

"I've seen a letter from you, and it's right to say there's a different side to you," Judge Dixon said, adding that he had noted the efforts Abdullah had made to serve the 'wider community' and individuals in particular, including someone suffering from dementia that Abdullah helped to care for.

Judge Dixon also said he was satisfied, having read letters from Abdullah and his mother, that his 'offer of remorse' was 'genuine'.

Judge Dixon said there is 'nothing the court can do to diminsh what happened' to Mr Crowley or to 'bring him back' and sentenced Abdullah to 75 months in prison.

"Mr Crowley, from all I have seen, and all I have read, was an exceptional man, but he was also an ordinary man...who had beaten cancer...he was a man who single-handedly crossed the Atlantic in a boat he built himself. I expect those who knew him best, just saw that as being part of Sean. I bet he will be best remembered as the normal, every day Sean, as hard-working, as the always there man, who isn't there any more," Judge Dixon said.

Abdullah was banned from driving for six years and six weeks.

Judge Dixon said it had not been a 'straight-forward' sentencing exercise because there are 'now new sentencing guidelines' for the offence of death by dangerous driving.

As of July 1, 2023, the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is now 18 years

Judge Dixon said he had to therefore take a 'measured' approach to the new guidelines, while bearing in mind the maximum sentence at the time the offence occurred, which was 14 years.