Killer driver filmed Snapchat clip, inhaled laughing gas and passed out at wheel before smashing into bridge on Mancunian Way
04.10.2023 - 07:23
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A speeding driver inhaled laughing gas and filmed a Snapchat clip moments before ploughing into a wall and killing a 17-year-old girl. University graduate Rohail Jillani reached speeds of up to 98mph on the Mancunian Way before losing control of his Mercedes A180.
His passenger Nadia Yusuf died. A third person in the car, Shafi Sufi, now 20, survived but was left with serious, life-changing injuries.
Shortly before the horror crash, Jillani, 25, had taken both hands off the wheel. He was filming a clip on Snapchat with one hand, and inhaling balloons filled with nitrous oxide with the other.
READ MORE: The faces of teen killers who murdered a teenager they claimed was their friend
READ MORE: The top stories across the M.E.N.
At one point Jilliani passed out and slumped on the steering wheel. The Mercedes veered to the left and ploughed into the railway bridge passing over the Mancunian Way as it moves towards Great Ancoats Street.
Police later found the Snapchat clip, which showed the Mercedes travelling at 98mph in the moments before the crash. The speed limit for the road at the time of the crash, which occurred at about 11.30pm on January 10 last year, was 40mph, Manchester Crown Court heard.
A man working near the scene at the time heard an 'extremely loud bang', prosecutor Rachel Widdicombe said. "It was so loud he thought that the railway arches had collapsed," she said.
He went to the wreckage and found Jillani conscious, but 'dazed and confused', while his two passengers were unconscious. Ms Yusuf was pronounced dead about two hours later.
Mr Sufi has suffered a catalogue of serious injuries, and needs a hip replacement. Jillani suffered a brain injury in the crash.
He later told police he had no memory