A November afternoon near London Bridge Station shattered for two families when a five-year-old boy, Fareed Amir, was struck by a car. The vehicle, a Volkswagen ID.4, surged forward with devastating force, leaving Fareed with injuries that would prove fatal.
Ashenafei Demissie, the 53-year-old driver, is now on trial, accused of causing Fareed’s death and seriously injuring his own twelve-year-old son. The scene unfolded outside a block of flats, where both boys had been playing, before the car unexpectedly accelerated, colliding with five parked vehicles after impact.
Demissie, a cab driver, recounted to police returning home after picking up his younger son from school. He described a scene of innocent interaction – Fareed, his mother, and his own elder son gathered around his car. He’d even offered the little boy a sweet, politely declined by Fareed’s mother, Rosa.
Initially, Demissie suggested a mechanical fault, claiming the car “jumped” and that Fareed may have triggered a sensor. He insisted he had never experienced any prior issues with the vehicle, describing the event as a “moment of madness.” He desperately attempted to brake, but felt it was too late.
The courtroom heard a heartbreaking detail: as Demissie shielded his injured son from view, the boy repeatedly cried out, “Daddy hurts, daddy hurts, broken, daddy hurts.” Demissie himself broke down in tears while testifying, recalling feeling “happy” before the tragedy, and remembering Fareed’s affectionate nickname, “Uncle Ash.”
The defense argued that Demissie did not intentionally accelerate, asserting the car moved “of its own accord.” However, a Met Police traffic collision investigator presented a starkly different conclusion. After a thorough examination of the vehicle in December 2022, Mark Still found no evidence of any mechanical defect.
Still testified that he was unable to replicate any scenario where the car would accelerate without direct driver input. “I found no faults with the operation of the vehicle, including steering, brake and acceleration,” he stated. “I was unable to make the vehicle move without any additional input. You had to make an action to make the vehicle move.”
He described a known phenomenon – “pedal misapplication” – where drivers unintentionally press the accelerator instead of the brake. This often leads to a panicked escalation, as the driver, believing they are braking, presses harder, accelerating further and losing control.
Still’s investigation concluded that this was precisely what occurred, a “case of pedal misapplication” where the alleged fault could not be replicated. While acknowledging he wasn’t a computer or software expert, he confirmed a comprehensive search for any mechanical or electrical failure yielded nothing.
Demissie maintains his innocence, and the trial continues, leaving a community grappling with the unimaginable loss of a young life and the unsettling question of how a moment of confusion could lead to such devastating consequences.
