Two men guilty of causing death of Oldham student

Two Oldham men have been found guilty of causing the death of a sixth form student by driving dangerously.

On 23 February 2023 at approximately 1.30pm, Hamidur Rahman, 24, and Omar Choudhury, 22, were driving in convoy at speed along Rochdale Road before Choudhury collided with Alisha Goup, 16, who was walking to Oldham Sixth Form College.

Leading up to the collision there was an altercation between the two men on Chadderton Way. Rahman got out of a BMW 1 series, which he was not insured to drive, and ran towards Choudhury's BMW 3 series with a baseball bat in his hand.

Choudhury reversed along Chadderton Way on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.

At one point Choudhury mounted the kerb of a pedestrian island, where a pedestrian was standing, before driving forward onto Rochdale Road in the direction of Royal Oldham Hospital.

Rahman pursued him at speed onto Rochdale Road before turning right onto Coldhurst Street just before Choudhury, who was driving at speed on the wrong side of the road, collided with a white Ford Fiesta.

This caused his BMW to mount the pavement and collide with Alisha as she walked along the footpath.

The force of the impact projected Alisha upwards and into a tree.

Members of the public tried to assist Alisha and detained Choudhury at the scene until police arrived. Emergency services arrived at the scene and sadly at 1.48pm Alisha was declared dead.

In police interviews Rahman denied the manner of his driving was responsible for causing the death of Alisha, as he had turned off into a side road prior to the actual collision.

Choudhury accepted he was driving dangerously and had collided with Alisha but claimed it was under duress as he was being chased by Rahman.

During the trial, the CPS presented bad character evidence to the jury which showed Choudhury had a previous history of dangerous driving.

He was involved in a police pursuit in December 2022 and drove a hire vehicle at over 100mph in August 2021.

Footage recovered from his phone filmed by passengers in his car showed him driving at 120mph in November 2021, 145mph in October 2021 and in May 2022 he filmed himself at the wheel.

Today, a jury found both men guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

 Anthony Stanway, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: "Hamidur Rahman and Omar Choudhury's manner of driving was selfish and reckless.

"They put many lives at risk that day with the worst possible outcome – the death of a young girl who had her whole life ahead of her.

"Neither man took responsibility for their actions, putting Alisha's family through the further trauma of a trial. Nothing can bring Alisha back, but I hope this conviction goes some way to comfort her family at this difficult time.

"All drivers have a responsibility to drive safely; this case shows the devastating consequences of not doing so. We will robustly prosecute those who disregard the rules of the road and the safety of pedestrians and other road users."