Flashed by a speed camera, a friend gave them a word of advice. “I told them ‘that’s a sign from God’. I told them to go home.”
They didn’t go home. Uways Hussain and Usmon Mahmood, sucking nitrous oxide from balloons, continued motoring along south Manchester streets at speeds of up to 139mph.
Later that night, an innocent man was killed. The scene of the horror crash that claimed Sylvester Abayomi’s life was horrific. Images of the wrecked cars appalled those in court as Hussain and Mahmood faced justice months later.
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The Manchester Evening News spoke to people at the scene on Kingsway in Burnage in the wake of the tragedy. One man said he knew the pair. They were on the stretch as takeaways there stay open late on Ramadan, he said.
He revealed he had begged them to go home when he found out they were up to. “They’ve been driving fast late at night,” he said.
“When they got snapped by a speed camera on the road, they called me and I told them ‘that’s a sign from God’. I told them to go home.”
As he tried to comprehend the gravity of what had happened, he added: “It’s stupid. I told them to go home.” After Hussan and Mahmood were jailed at Manchester Crown Court this week, police released shocking footage from that night.
Videos taken on Hussain’s phone showed him casually holding the wheel of his Volkswagen Golf GTI with one hand while reaching speeds of over 100mph. He filmed himself inhaling nitrous oxide, alongside Mahmood in the passenger seat.
Their night came to a disastrous end as Hussain ran a right light, careering into Mr Abayomi’s Volvo S40 as he travelled to work. The 50-year-old suffered catastrophic chest injuries and died later that morning.
‘Chilling’
The night of March 9, 2026 began with Hussain, 20, filling up his car at a petrol station. CCTV footage showed him vaping on the forecourt. Mahmooh, 23, was seen in the passenger seat of the VW filling balloons from a nitrous oxide canister.
Mahmood paid as Hussain inhaled the drug. Hours hours later, Hussain filmed himself driving, music blasting. Mahmood was heard shouting ‘come on’, before filming on his own phone as they overtook a car at 130mph.
Speed cameras were seen flashing in the footage and the seatbelt warning sound was heard. Police recovered footage of the pair parking up at 4.13am.
Hussain filmed Mahmood inhaling from a balloon before turning the camera on himself and making a ‘gun gesture’. They were seen driving on the wrong side of the road.
Later, at Kingsway’s junction with Green End Road, Hussain went through a red light, ploughing into Mr Abayomi’s car.
The Golf was seen spinning before coming to a stop near a bus stop and bursting into flames. Hussain’s Apple Watch automatically called 999, having detected a collision.
Unaware of the call, the pair were recorded talking about reporting the car stolen. They were heard arguing about who would say they were the driver and discussing how to remove DNA evidence.
Hussain was heard saying his dad was ‘going to kill him’. Sentencing the pair, judge Nicholas Dean KC described the call as ‘chilling’, adding: “It doesn’t reveal shock or concern for the victim.”
A horrified passer-by urged them to stay at the scene. They were seen removing items from the boot of the VW – including gas canisters – and callously running away.
Officers tracked Hussain and Mahmood using Apple data. They found Hussain hiding in a garden on Sunnylea Avenue. “None of us were even there, what’s happened, did somebody pass away?,” he said.
Data recovered from the Golf showed that in the seconds leading up to the crash, the car reached a maximum speed of 139mph. At the point of impact, they were travelling at 99mph.
Mr Abayomi’s partner Denise Doyle said in court: “Sylvester was simply on his way to work. He was an ordinary, hard working man. He should have returned home to me that day, but because of your actions, he never did.
“Sylvester had kissed me and said goodbye and that he loved me. I never knew this would be the last time. It didn’t feel like it had really happened.
“A nightmare where I was in a box and I couldn’t get out. Sylvester was not just a name. he was my partner, my best friend, my future, he was a deeply loved member of our family and community.
“The life of belonging together has been taken away from me. The future we had planned no longer exists. It will stay with me for the rest of my life.
“What makes this harder is that this was not an unavoidable accident – it was entirely preventable. The choices you have made that morning have caused irreversible harm and have taken a life of a person that should be here today.
“I wish you had shown remorse and not run away. I wish you would have helped Sylv. How could you just leave him there?
“I hope this case serves as a reminder as to the devastating consequences of dangerous driving. No family should have to experience this kind of loss. No person should have to feel what I am feeling and shed the tears I have shed.”
His brother Andrew Turner told the defendants: “One day you will be able to hug your families again. I will never ever get to see or hug my brother again. You both did this and you both took away my chance to hug my brother again.”
Mitigating, Neil Ronan said Hussain had a previous conviction for drug driving and was a law student who worked full-time at an airport. He said: “Nothing I say on behalf of Mr Hussain takes away from the severity in relation to the horrible outcome for his criminal behaviour.”
The barrister said that in a letter to the judge from Hussain, he described his driving as a ‘single reckless decision’.
Judge Nicholas Dean KC said: “This wasn’t a single reckless decision. He drives under the influence of nitrous oxide in an utterly shocking way and an entirely deliberate way. There was nothing reckless about his behaviour.”
Mr Ronan responded: “This defendant deeply regrets the whole of the driving. He knows and appreciated and understands the effect his behaviour has had. He regrets the fear and panic and shock that led him to leave the scene.”
Judge Dean added: “I don’t accept it was shock that caused him to leave the scene, they were both still likely under the influence of what they had been inhaling. They were panicked, but panicked by their own knowledge for the responsibility of what happened.”
Representing Mahmood, Clare Ashcroft said he was about to start an apprenticeship with Network Rail. “He is beginning to understand the enormity of his actions… he is remorseful,” she added.
Jailing the pair, Judge Dean said: “This case concerns the wholly unnecessary and entirely avoidable death of Sylvester Abayomi. Your driving, Uways Hussain, was not as you suggested, a ‘momentary lapse’. It was a sustained, deliberation and escalating case of highly dangerous conduct over a prolonged period.
“I have seen the CCTV footage and the videos recorded on phones and they are terrifying. You drove at extreme speeds, up to nearly 140mph on roads which were by and large, 30mph.
“This was, in every sense, a flagrant disregard. This was deliberate risk taking – seemingly for the thrill of it.”
Hussain, 20, from Burnage, was jailed for 11 years and eight months for causing death by dangerous driving; causing death by driving a vehicle whilst uninsured; conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; failing to provide a specimen for analysis and driving without insurance.
Mahmood, 23, from Levenshulme, was jailed for 12 years and nine months for aiding and abetting causing death by dangerous driving; aiding and abetting causing death by driving a vehicle whilst uninsured and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
They were both banned from driving for five years with a extension of eight years.
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