Dangerous driver jailed for killing two Dudley teens
Dhiya Al Maamoury hit a group of pedestrians gathered on the pavement of the A457 Oldbury Road, Oldbury, killing 16-year-old Liberty Charris and 19-year-old Ben Corfield.
When he lost control of his blue and white Nissan Skyline, the 56-year-old also hit and seriously injured Ethan Kilbrun and Ebonie Parkes, who were 21 and 20 at the time of the crash in November, 2022.
Mr Al Maamoury originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving in March but changed his plea on the day he was convicted in September.
Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC told the court the car, which had been imported from Japan around 18 months before the collision, had been modified so the exhaust would spit fire and had a turbo engine fitted.
She said Mr Al Maamoury had been driving at speeds of between 54 and 57mph on the 40mph stretch of road and was “fishtailing” before he lost control completely and ploughed into the group on the pavement.
Ms Heeley also said that speeding was not what caused the collision, but instead the fact that Mr Al Maamoury was “accelerating excessively” to the point the back of his car lost traction with the road.
Arrested at the scene, Al Maamoury claimed he had taken his sons, who were in the back of the car, to the meet as they liked to photograph cars and denied speeding, saying the car went to the curb “by itself” and that he was simply on his way home and had made a U-turn at the roundabout.
Ms Heeley said Snapchat and CCTV footage proved this was not true.
When sentencing Al Maamoury, Judge Michael Chambers KC said: “You deliberately carried out a highly dangerous manoeuvre in order to show off to the crowd by accelerating hard in a Nissan that you had deliberately modified in order to increase its power.
“You did so in clear close proximity to a crowd of spectators who had lined the road and included the four victims in this case.
“As a result you lost control of your car with catastrophic results.
“To bury a child is a parent’s worse nightmare.
“No sentence that I can impose can possibly put the clock back, nor should it be seen as an attempt to put value on the loss of life.”
Family members of the victims, who were both from Dudley, sobbed in the public gallery at Wolverhampton Crown Court at Mr Al Maamoury’s sentencing today, November 8, as the extensive list of injuries they suffered were read out.
Damian Corfield, Ben’s father, told the court how his life ended the night Mr Al Maamoury killed his son.
He said: “He was struck down on the pavement where he should have been safe.
“He didn’t come home. He will never come home.
“The son we had waited for for so long was gone forever.
“The reason I lived was taken away from me. The son I cherished and loved so dearly is gone.
“My son, my best mate, my business partner and confidant. All I do is count down the days until I can be with him again.”
Liberty’s mother Tracy Charris paid tribute to her “larger than life” daughter who was a “force to be reckoned with”.
She said: “I had always wanted a little girl and from the moment she was born, it was me and her against the world. I would have died for her.
“She was so bright and bubbly, she loved everything and everyone. Her absence is deafening.”
She added: “I am so full of hate it consumes me. I am truly devastated by the loss of my Liberty and it is too much to bear.”