2:20pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Nigel Freedman
A mother has spoken of her anger after her husband was mown down by an uninsured driver who should not have been on the road.
Anthony Edney, 44, died after a van pulled out in front of him without warning at a busy junction in June.(09) Driver Delshad Aziz, 26, had no licence and no insurance and tried to hide his identity from police investigators.
At first it was thought Mr Edney had suffered only a broken leg and was conscious and talking to his wife Maria when she arrived to see him at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
He was rushed to theatre after doctors discovered he was bleeding from a ruptured aorta but died soon afterwards.
Mrs Edney, 40, said at her home in Thornhill Way, Portslade, last night: “I am angry. That man should never have been in the country.
“If he had not been here I would not have lost my husband and the kids would not have lost their dad.
“The fact that he did not have a licence or insurance makes it even worse.
“People have to pass strict driving tests to drive in this country but he had not taken one.”
Aziz is thought to have entered Britain from Iraq in 2005 and was detained for nine months after his papers were found not to be in order.
He applied for asylum but was refused and is currently appealing to the Home Office against the decision not to let him stay.
Aziz was charged with causing death by careless driving after the crash with Mr Edney's Piaggio scooter at the junction of the Old Shoreham Road and The Drive in Hove.
He denied the charges but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial at Hove Crown Court yesterday.(tue) Richard Barton, prosecuting, said Mr Edney had finished a night shift at the Real Patisserie Company in New England Road, Brighton.
He had no chance of avoiding the borrowed white Ford Transit van Aziz was driving when it suddenly turned right at the junction. His scooter had a top speed of just 40mph.
Mr Edney was wearing a bright yellow crash helmet and Aziz would have had a clear view of him from up to 300 yards away, the court was told.
Aziz, gave false details to police when they arrived at the scene, claiming he was the genuine owner of the van who runs a removal business in the Midlands.
His true identity was discovered when investigators scanned his fingerprints and found a match on their fingerprint recognition database.
Aziz refused to answer any questions when he was interviewed and insisted on waiting for the outcome of the police investigation into the crash before he would comment.
Mrs Edney said her children Kieran, three, and Jade, were still badly affected by the loss of their father.
She added: “Kieran is showing a lot of signs of anger towards what happened. He talks about his dad a lot.
“My daughter has slipped behind with her school work because of this and they are both having counselling.
“It has left a big gap in our lives.”
Sergeant Paul Wood, who led the investigation, said: “We are pleased that he has pleaded guilty to an offence which has caused a lot of pain for Mr Edney's family.
“The fact that he has now admitted what he did brings a very tragic incident to a satisfactory conclusion.”
Aziz, of New Road East, Portsmouth, was granted bail until he is sentenced on April 12.
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