The family of a hit-and-run victim whose killer was sentenced to less than a year in jail and will walk free in two weeks said today: “There is no justice in this country.”
Business studies student Kamrul Hasan, 23, died after being flung from his Yamaha motorcycle in a crash caused by motorist Mohammed Asim in Croydon on December 29 last year.
Asim, 25, pleaded guilty at Croydon crown court on Monday to causing death by careless driving and was handed a 51-week jail sentence and a three-year driving ban.
Because of the time he had spent in custody since the crash, he will be released on June 23.
Mr Hasan’s brother-in-law Moktar Hossin said: "Fifty one weeks in prison for taking someone’s life? He will be out by the end of the month.
There is no justice in this country. What message does that send out? You can take someone’s life and be out within a year."
Asim, of Streatham, was captured on CCTV driving up and down London Road in a black Lexus and performed a U-turn moments before the smash.
Mr Hasan was riding behind when Asim braked sharply causing him to lose control of his motorcycle and slide into the car.
He was left sprawled in the road where he died 45 minutes later.
Asim turned off his headlights and drove away before handing himself in to police the next day.
Mr Hossin, 31, said it had been "a cowardly act" to drive away, adding: "We were expecting him to get a 10-year driving ban and jail for three to five years.
"It is shocking but there is nothing we can do, we have been told we cannot appeal.
"But he had a 50 per cent discount on his sentence and served half of it. That cannot be right."
Mr Hasan moved to London five years ago from Dhaka, in Bangladesh, and lived with his sister, Mr Hossin and their two children Sohana, five, and Samira, three, in Finchley.
He planned on returning to Bangladesh this year to get married and start a new life as a marketing executive.
His brother-in-law said: "We cry every day. My daughters miss him a lot. Every time they hear a motorbike they ask if their uncle is coming to see them."
Asim also pleaded guilty to failing to stop at the scene.
Judge Warwick McKinnon, recorder of Croydon, said his actions were a "substantial cause" of Mr Hasan’s death.
"Any decent citizen would have, on feeling the impact, got out of the vehicle and done what they could," he said.
