BRITISH NON-JUSTICE

What do you have to do to get jailed in Britain?

The mother of a promising medical student killed in a hit and run accident broke down yesterday as it emerged that the driver is likely to serve only four months in prison. Jaswinder Singh, who was uninsured and not wearing the correct glasses, was sentenced to 18 months after running a red light and hitting Abigail Craen on a pedestrian crossing. But he was told by the judge he would only serve half the sentence. Because he has been on remand for five months, he could be out by July.

Miss Craen's mother, Susan, who wept as the sentence was read out, said it was "an insult" to her daughter. "She is dead and the man who killed her has a small interruption in his life. This is no deterrent or punishment," she said. "Abigail was murdered on October 30 last year. The man who killed her left her dying on the edge of the road. He did not brake or stop and did not come forward for eight days. Abigail was a wonderful, talented and beautiful girl whose life was full of laughter."

The judge was also criticised by police and road safety protesters. Det Chief Insp Sally Holmes, of West Midlands Police, said: "We are disappointed with the sentence on behalf of the family. Eighteen months is no reflection for this loss of life." The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said it was "shocked" at the leniency of the sentence.

Miss Craen, 20, was five weeks into the first year of a medical degree at Birmingham University when she died. Her ambition was to work for the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. She had left her flat to go to the bank and was on a pedestrian crossing in Edgbaston, with the green man flashing, when she was struck by Singh's dark Ford Mondeo at 5pm on Oct 30.

Police estimated that Singh, 45, who is unemployed, was travelling between 34mph and 41mph at the time of the collision. The speed limit was 30mph. He admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to report an accident and driving without insurance.

Miss Craen, from Liss, Hants, was catapulted 90ft by the impact, but her shoes were left in the road at the spot she was hit. She suffered massive brain damage. She was taken to Selly Oak hospital but never regained consciousness and her family agreed to turn off her life support machine two days later.

Singh, a father of two, had only been driving for a month following a 12-month ban for drink driving. He will not be allowed to drive now until 2010.

Roger Vincent, RoSPA spokesman, said the sentence sent out the wrong message. He added: "Courts have to demonstrate that they treat the death of an innocent person on the road as seriously as any other type of violent death."

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SAUDI JUSTICE: MONEY TALKS

An Indian migrant worker who was sentenced by a Saudi court to have an eye gouged out but later pardoned has been set free and is being sent home to India, a report said. Puthen Veetil Abdul Latheef Noushad, convicted of blinding a Saudi national in 2003, is due to arrive in his home state of Kerala tomorrow, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting government officials.

Noushad, 32, had been working at a petrol station in the eastern oil center of Dammam in April 2003 when he had a fight with a Saudi customer, Nayef Mohammad al-Otaibi, over payment. Noushad was subsequently jailed. The Saudi later lost his eyesight but the Indian said it was not because of the injuries he inflicted, and that he had acted in self-defence. Noushad in 2004 filed a petition to an appeal court which can ask a victim for a pardon, but the victim had previously refused to settle for monetary compensation.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict form of Islam, which includes the death penalty for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking, as well as punishment corresponding to the offence such as the amputation of hands for theft. But a convict can be pardoned by the victim. In cases of murder, a victim's family can settle for what is called "blood money" in exchange for a pardon. In January, reports said Mr Otaibi had pardoned Noushad.

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