Arabic version: سائق يعتذر عن حادث صدم وفرار مميت في هيلكريست

According to ABC News, Ashton Friend apologised in South Australia’s District Court after hitting and killing international student Samia Malik on North East Road at Hillcrest in Adelaide’s north-east. Friend, 20, of Banksia Park, had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by careless use of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident after causing death.

The court heard Ms Malik had been kneeling on the road for about four minutes before the crash at about 11pm on May 6 last year. Friend’s defence barrister, Jane Abbey KC, said he had been driving home from his girlfriend’s house, did not see Ms Malik and initially did not realise he had struck a person. She said he heard a noise and hoped he had hit an animal or something similar.

Ms Abbey said the car sustained relatively little damage, consistent with Friend’s belief that he had struck a small animal. The court heard he was not affected by drugs or alcohol and was not speeding. Within two days, Friend saw a news report about the incident but was in a state of paralysis, the defence said. Police identified and arrested him a week later.

Reading an apology in court, Friend said he was deeply sorry to Ms Malik’s family and could only imagine the “indescribable pain and trauma” he had caused. He said there was no excuse for his actions or failure to act, accepted full responsibility and said he would carry the weight of what happened.

In a victim impact statement read by prosecutor Frank Niemann, Ms Malik’s sister, Qudisya Malik, said the family had lost a daughter, sister, friend and “a remarkable young woman”. Mr Niemann said other motorists had swerved around Ms Malik and a police vehicle behind Friend had stopped without striking her. The prosecution and defence agreed a suspended jail term would be appropriate when Friend is sentenced next month.