A Nigerian cancer nurse, Abiola Akilla, has been jailed for 30-months in the United Kingdom for running over a police officer after being pulled over for clocking at 51mph in a 40mph zone with her young daughter in the back.
The 51-year-old nurse, who had no driving licence or insurance, was pulled over by PC Caroline Green, knocked her down ‘and never looked back’ as she left her lying seriously injured on the road.
The officer told the court that she went to the front of the vehicle to note down the car’s registration number when Akilla reversed back onto the road, despite being told to stay put.
As she called on the radio for help Akilla ‘drove over the top’ of her and left the scene. ‘I was screaming in pain. She was so close to my head,’ she said.
The hit-and-run, which took place in Grays, Essex, in October 2020, left PC Green with five broken ribs as well as leg and arm injuries and cuts and bruises near her head.
The mum-of-one was airlifted to Royal London Hospital, where she stayed for a week. She now fears she may never return to front-line duties because of PTSD.
Narrating the horrific incident, PC Green said: ‘Her front wheel went over my ankle, then she drove up my leg. I was in so much pain I thought she’d snapped my leg.
‘I fell back and cracked my head on the concrete and she drove over my ribs and my right shoulder.
‘I had a crushing feeling all over my body and was screaming in pain.
‘She was so close to my head, and in between the first and second wheels going over me I managed to get into a foetal position. Then the back wheel went over my legs, pelvis and stomach.’
Harrowing body cam footage was shown to the judge of the moment the vehicle went over PC Green’s body. Akilla entered the dock crying, but showed little reaction when the film was played.
The defendant, who told Basildon crown court it was a ‘moment of madness’, also received a six-year driving ban as well as the prison term after admitting serious injury by dangerous driving.
In a statement after she was jailed, PC Green said Akilla’s sentence is ‘a very small price for her to pay’. ‘I’ve been through 17 months of hell, mentally and physically, and continue to go through it — it’s like a life sentence for me.’
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