Woman who hit four-year-old boy with car in fatal road collision embraces grieving mother at inquest

Naza Ali hugs Fatou Bojang in court after family forgive her for her part in Yusuf Jatta's tragic death in Leeds road collision

Yusuf Jatta (SWNS)

A woman who killed a four-year-old boy with her car when he stepped out into the road embraced the youngster's grieving mother at an inquest into his death.

Naza Ali hit little Yusuf Jatta when he stepped out into the road while waiting at a pelican crossing with his mother and other family members.

During the inquest, Yusuf's father Lamin Jatta, 48, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, told a distraught Ms Ali: “We forgive you and do not hold any grudges against you or your family.”

Yusuf had been stood on a pedestrian refuge on a central reservation with his family when he ran out into the road straight into the path of Ms Ali's Vauxhall Corsa.

Ms Ali would only have had a second to react before the collision on 29 April, the inquest at Wakefield Coroner's Court, West Yorkshire, was told.

She told Yusuf's parents in court that she is a mother-of-four, adding: “I'm really sorry.”

Ms Ali, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, then embraced Yusuf's mother Fatou Bojang, 48, as both women wept.

Police collision investigator Martin Ward said CCTV footage from a shop, a bus and an NHS centre indicated the car was travelling at 27mph in a 30mph zone when Yusuf ran into the road.

Mr Ward said the fact no-one else had left the pedestrian refuge in Chapeltown, Leeds, led him to believe the lights were on green for vehicles.

He said: “As the vehicle approached the child entered the road into the path of the vehicle.

“The vehicle has struck the child approximately one second after.”

Recording a verdict that Yusuf died in a road traffic collision, senior coroner David Hinchliff said: “According to CCTV evidence there was a second.

“That wouldn't have given an opportunity to stop.”

Ms Bojang wrote in a statement read to the inquest: “He was a lovely son and loving brother to his brothers and sisters - we all miss him greatly.”

SWNS