A 17-year-old boy has admitted causing the death of three friends while driving a hired sports car at a high speed which made the vehicle airborne.
Arayeb Saqib will be sentenced on his 18th birthday after he confessed to killing his passengers Hamzaa Jacob Iqbal, 24; Hamza Gujjar, 21; and Munib Afzal Karim, 20, in a deadly crash earlier this year.
A fifth man in the Audi S5 involved was seriously injured.
Saqib had no licence and no insurance at the time of the accident in Whalley Range, the Manchester Evening News reports.
He admitted three charges of causing death by dangerous driving, and one charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, at a Manchester Crown Court hearing on Monday.
The deaths of the three friends, who were returning from a family wedding at the time of the tragedy, prompted an outpouring of grief from the community, and their funerals drew hundreds of mourners.
The M.E.N has learnt details of how the horrific crash is believed to have unfolded in the early hours of April 27.
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It’s understood that the deceased had been attending the wedding of Munib Karim’s sister, at Nawaab restaurant in Levenshulme, hours before the crash.
Saqib, of Wisner Court, Glasgow, had not been at the wedding, but met up with them in the area. One of the party is understood to have hired the Audi S5 for the celebrations, and shortly before 3.15am a police officer saw it driving dangerously in the area of Kingsway and Moseley Road, Fallowfield.
The officer gave chase, but decided it was not safe to go beyond 80mph, and the vehicle gunned away down Wilbraham Road.
By the time the vehicle had crossed the junction with Princess Road, it was going at such speed that the camber of the road acted as a ramp.
By the middle of Princess Road the vehicle took off, flew through the air, and landed on the other side of the Princess Road and Wilbraham Road junction.
The car landed facing straight ahead, but a rear tyre was dislodged, Saqib lost control, and skidded sideways for 100 metres down Wilbraham Road. He crashed into a sign and two parked cars, causing his friends’ horrific injuries.
It’s understood that at the hospital he claimed to be a passenger, telling nurses he saw the speedometer reach 110mph. At the time the car came to a stop it was going at 68mph.
Full facts of the case will be opened when Saqib is sentenced on July 15.
Brendan O’Leary, who defended Saqib in the brief Manchester Crown Court plea hearing, asked for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report, even though Saqib “faces an inevitable custodial sentence”.
Mr O’Leary applied for bail on Saqib’s behalf, saying: “It’s a sensitive case and a tragic case, but there have been no problems whilst he’s been on bail – he’s 17-years-of-age and it’s Ramadan.”
Judge Martin Steiger refused the application, saying: “In a case involving a triple homicide it would not be appropriate to grant bail, and so the defendant is remanded in custody.”
