'Selfish' driver rammed woman when he ran red light at '70mph' at busy Sheffield junction
A “selfish, reckless” driver who sent a woman’s car spinning when he ran a red light in Sheffield at 70mph claimed she and all the witnesses who saw him were all working together to blame the crash on him.
Sahil Hussain, of Homestead Drive, Brinsworth, caused both his and his victim’s cars to “leave the ground” when he bolted through the red light and smashed into the innocent woman as she pulled out of the junction of Attercliffe Common and Weedon Street, just before 9am on September 25, 2024.
Witnesses told police how the then 24-year-old then stood around using his mobile phone while others rushed to see if the other driver was okay.
But when police put the evidence of his appalling driving to him down at the station, Hussain said it was all her fault - and claimed she must have “colluded” with all of the witnesses to pin the blame on him.
“That would have been simply impossible,” said His Honour Judge David Dixon at Hussain’s sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court on November 11, “as she was being cut from her car by the fire service at the time.
“That one of the witnesses described your driving as ‘terrible’ is a massive understatement.
“This was reckless driving in the extreme.”
The court heard how other drivers on Attercliffe Common told police they had been stopped at the red light for what felt like five seconds before Hussain chanced it through the junction in his Volkswagen Passat.
One witness described him going at “motorway driving speed” and said he was reaching 70mph, but others said it could have been 50mph.
In either case, Judge Dixon described the victim as “behaving perfectly properly” when she pulled out into the junction on a green light.
The force of the collision span her car around. She suffered multiple fractured ribs, severe bruising, and damage to her knee and hips. She was forced to take three months off work, and over a year after the crash, she still suffers pain in her chest and hips, and feels anxious at taking “unnecessary trips.”
“It is a miracle that is the extent of her injuries,” said the judge.
“It was arrogant, selfish driving. This was you, thinking ‘I can get through that, I’m more important, I need to get to where I’m going, and it doesn’t matter about other drivers, they will just have to stop or get out of the way’.
“Not once did you go to see if [the victim] was alright - and worst still, when you were arrested, you said it was her fault.”
The court heard Hussain told police he had “driven through a green light at the speed limit.”
When the extensive eyewitness evidence was put to him by officers, the 25-year-old then suggested his victim had “got everybody else to lie about how it was his fault.”
Hussain initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing injury by dangerous driving at a hearing in June 2025.
However, in a show of lenience, Judge Dixon told Hussain that if he opted to change his mind and plead guilty within three weeks, he would give him credit as if he pleaded guilty in the first place. Hussain did.
The court heard Hussain now “regretted” his actions and that his attitude towards his “selfish” offence, as well as his priorities, had changed after recently becoming a father, and said his family would struggle to pay bills without him.
But, even with the full credit for pleading guilty, Judge Dixon sentenced Hussain to 27 months in prison, and banned him from driving for three years.
“This was a very serious piece of driving with very serious consequences that your victim will live with forever,” said Judge Dixon.
“All this simply because you wanted to be somewhere earlier.”