It was 9.20pm on August 9 in 2023 when one of Mohammad Uddin’s five sons posted into the family WhatsApp group that ‘dad has had an accident’. It came around 10 minutes after the 65-year-old had been ploughed into by a Toyota Aygo while crossing Small Heath’s Somerville Road.
The driver, teenager Hamza Ahmad, had been speeding along the tight residential street, which was a designated 20mph zone. Mr Uddin’s only daughter Shahnaz Parvin was more than 200 miles away in Cornwall visiting a relative when she received the worrying message.
“From that moment our lives changed forever,” she told Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, while reading out her powerful and emotional victim impact statement. “When I found out, I screamed. I video-called my brother instantly and I asked him to show me my dad. Blurred, but I saw the paramedics had stripped my dad and I knew in my gut that this was all my worst nightmares playing out.”
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Shahnaz did not sleep a wink as her husband drove them back to Birmingham in a six-hour journey through the night. She described entering ‘fight or flight’ mode upon her return to the city. At the hospital she led the medical conversations with doctors and took minutes of each meeting to keep a record for the family as she tried to lead them through the horrific ordeal.
Her father, who she affectionately calls ‘Abbah’, had suffered catastrophic head injuries. Shahnaz said: “When I saw Abbah for the first time his head had swollen three times the normal size and his tongue no longer fit into his mouth.
“His right ear was black and he had wires and pipes in his nose, mouth, head – everywhere. He was covered in blood. But I think due to my shock when I saw him, all I saw was my Abbah. My funny, charismatic Abbah, my generous and hardworking Abbah.”
Mohammed Uddin who was killed in a road traffic collision on Somerville Road, Small Heath in August 2023.
(Image: Birmingham Mail / Live)
Mr Uddin would tragically succumb to his injuries. He was a ‘respected, well-known and loved’ member of the Bangladeshi community in Small Heath, where he had lived for nearly 50 years. Thousands of people attended his funeral prayer, which was led by one of his sons in an honour for the family.
Even the driver of the funeral car had known Mr Uddin. He took him past his home one final time.
On the day of the funeral Shahnaz, said her last goodbyes. “My last touch with him was nose to nose and I said my final goodbyes,” she said. His immense loss was immediately felt.
Mr Uddin had been happily married to his wife Zuthsna Begum for 37 years. He loved her to wear jewellery and vibrant colours. But immediately after his death she removed all her jewellery and wore only white.
“This change shocked everyone,” said Shahnaz, as she described her mother’s struggles with loneliness and her mental health since. “They did everything together and she was happy being a housewife to raise six children.
Mohammad Uddin at his allotments, where his belongings poignantly remained hung up following his death.
“Abbah was an avid gardener and they spent every spring and summer together in the allotments. Abbah was the main breadwinner in the house and since his passing, my mum must now rely on her children for everything.
“We are happy to do so but it is not the future any of us had imagined. Abbah ensured financial security for the family growing up and for mum as they entered the later years of their marriage – this has cruelly been taken away.”
Mr Uddin died a day after Shahnaz’s son Ibraheem turned one. She described the difficulties of balancing being a mum at the same time as grieving for her father.
Shahnaz, who lives in London, said: “Truly it is hard to comprehend the loss unless you have been through it yourself. The grief does not get smaller. And when the grief wave hits, it feels like I’m drowning.”
Mohammad Uddin with daughter Shahnaz Parvin when she was a child
(Image: Birmingham Mail / Live)
On top of that there was the ‘massive undertaking’ of handling her father’s affairs. Hours and hours spent on the telephone and exchanging emails for an entire month sorting out his various accounts.
Mr Uddin had five grandchildren at the time of his death and since then two of his sons have welcomed two more babies into the family, while missing their own father every day. Shahnaz stated she felt ‘devastated’ that her own son Ibraheem will grow up without him.
She said: “Abbah always made sure I rested when I came to visit and was the first to take Ibraheem from my arms, especially during those early gruelling newborn months. Abbah was always rolling around on the floor playing at Ibraheem’s level and always put me first and had my back.
“He would buy crates of fruit and encourage us to eat and eat so he can go buy us some more. That summer, he made sure Ibraheem ate mangoes every single day.
“On the day he was hit, he had bought a box of lychees earlier in the day. It’s these little things I miss the most.”
A commemorative sign for road traffic collision victim Mohammad Uddin, who died aged 65 after being struckby a car on Somerville Road, Small Heath in August 2023.
(Image: Birmingham Mail / Live)
Road Peace, a charity for road crash victims, provided a commemorative sign to Mr Uddin which was fitted to a tree at the scene of the collision. The family hoped it would also serve as a reminder for drivers to stick to the speed limit. Instead, it has been heartlessly vandalised on numerous occasions and required replacing.
Adding to the family’s trauma were ‘hurtful’ comments and accusations on social media following Mr Uddin’s death claiming that he was somehow to blame for the collision. Yet Shahnaz and her siblings had been assured by the police that their father had done nothing wrong and that the driver was criminally at fault.
She said: “We didn’t engage, but the comments were disgusting and generated more unnecessary pain. We were powerless in that pain.
“For ages I could not return to the scene of the crime. Though it was just around the corner from my parents’ house, I always avoided it.
A general view of Somerville Road in Small Heath
“When I used to cross the road, I would imagine what happened to my father and start crying. I have gone through so many emotions, including anger, but ultimately nothing will bring Abbah back.
“Sadly, I must live through the memories of the trauma he went through. I used to spend hours awake at night wondering if he saw the car coming, if he felt pain, if he could hear me talking to him in the hospital. All these unanswered questions. But now I just pray for peace for him and for me too.”
In fact it was not until Tuesday, January 7 this year – 18 months later – at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court that Shahnaz saw CCTV of the collision for the first time. Mr Uddin had looked in both directions before crossing the road only to be taken off his feet and sent flying into the air by 19-year-old Hamza Ahmad’s Toyota Aygo.
At the point of impact he had been travelling between 26 to 28 mph – around 30 to 40 per cent over the 20mph limit. The moment prompted gasps from Mr Uddin’s family in court.
Shahnaz described the footage as ‘horrifying’ but also found relief at the proof that her father did nothing wrong and ‘all of the malicious comments from other people were baseless’. Ahmad, a dental nurse who lived at St. Benedicts Road in Small Heath very close to the scene, had previously admitted causing death by careless driving.
Hamza Ahmad
(Image: West Midlands Police)
He was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from driving for 15 months. However, he was instantly released and allowed to walk out of the court after his lawyer confirmed he would appeal the sentence.
He argued that imprisonment did not need to be immediate because his client was ‘extremely remorseful’, young and had never previously committed a crime. Ahmad was subsequently granted bail until the outcome of the appeal hearing.
Shahnaz stated that the rapid and unexpected turn of events felt like a ‘rug being taken from beneath our feet’. In truth, the family had been fearing Ahmad would get a suspended sentence. Shahnaz argued it was too often the case with road crime in the UK that the punishment did not reflect the offence.
She described her father as the ‘leader, pinnacle and compass’ of the family, adding that they felt ‘lost’ without him. Ahmad’s appeal hearing will take place at Birmingham Crown Court at a later date. For now, he walks free.