Family fury as unlicensed danger driver who injured mother and children avoids jail
A suspended sentence handed to a Walsall mother who mowed down two children while driving illegally on the school run has been branded "a joke" by their family.
Esther Imafidon, aged 40, lost control of her Nissan Micra on Ripon Road near Alumwell Junior School, in Alumwell, and ran over a fellow mum and her eight and one-year-old.
Unlicensed Imafidon ploughed through a wall and was only stopped when her car hit a building. Two of her own children were in the vehicle.
Mum McKayla Ford was knocked to the ground by the car and is still traumatised seeing the injuries her then eight-year-old daughter suffered.
Her daughter's bone broke through the skin on her leg leaving her facing several operations and round the clock care. Nearly two years later and she has only just began walking and running again but is plagued with nightmares and left with scars.
McKayla said: "How am I supposed to tell my child the woman who could have killed her has not been punished, a suspended sentence is nothing. All the mums knew she did not have a licence and she had near misses before.
"She put her own children in danger driving that car when she did not know how to, and she wrecked our lives in the process."
Grandmother of the children, Rachel Ford, said: "She was not jailed because she had children, but she did not care about them or my grandchildren when she got behind the wheel.
"If she was a man she would have been jailed, it is as simple as that. Her children's dad should have to look after them. It's not fair."
On Thursday, Wolverhampton Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the shocking incident on December 14, 2021, which prompted tears in the public gallery from the girls' family.
Imafidon, of Flaxhall Street, Pleck, in Walsall, pleaded guilty to causing injury by dangerous driving.
In mitigation, Imafidon's defence lawyer, Simon Manns, said his client "would think about that day for the rest of her life" and wanted to apologise the victims' family.
He said: "She does not know what happened that day. But she has her own children and they do not deserve to lose their mother to a prison sentence."
Judge Rhona Campbell said: "Thankfully, she is running and walking again, but she sustained serious injuries and has been left with the night-terrors and scarring which she is self-concious about.
She told Imafidon: "This was a piece of extraordinary driving. The duration was short but the damage done in that short space of time was brutal. People heard revving and tyres screeching from your car.
"You obviously did not know how to drive the car but you still went ahead on your own with your children when you did not even have a licence."
Judge Campbell sentenced Imafidon to two years ni prison, suspended for a year, 300 hours of unpaid work in the community, and a curfew on Saturdays and Sundays on 8am and 10pm. She was disqualified from driving for seven years. The judge added: "A custodial sentence should be immediate if you offered a risk to the public, I do not believe that is the case. There is strong mitigation, there would be harmful impact on others if you were given an immediate custodial sentence, that would be the case in regards to your children."