‘Quiet’ Muslim Man Who Used Delivery Van to Plow Pedestrians Gets Reduced Sentence of Four Years

A Muslim man in the United Kingdom who drove his delivery van into a group of pedestrians because he was angry with them was just given a reduced sentence of four years in jail.

Luqman Aslam, 26, admitted to dangerous driving and attempting to inflict harm on others.

And he was initially sentenced to five years.

Here’s a video of the scene as it unfolded:

The sentence reduction is especially interesting considering the crime in the United Kingdom for killing another with a vehicle is life, according to the Independent.

But Aslam’s attorneys argued the incarceration was too tough and asked the judge to reconsider. At an appeal, the judge did just that — and reduced the sentence to four years.

Leicester Mercury has more:

A man who deliberately rammed his van into a group of pedestrians in a revenge attack has had his jail sentence reduced on appeal.

Luqman Aslam drove his vehicle onto the pavement after seeing red following an earlier clash with the group of men in Leicester city centre.

The 26-year-old delivery driver, of Warren View, Thurmaston, was sentenced to five years in prison at Leicester Crown Court in June after admitting to dangerous driving and attempting to inflict intentional grievous bodily harm during the incident – behind Sainsbury’s in Lee Lane, near Lee Circle – on June 28 last year.

He was described as a “quiet” family man at his appeal hearing, held at London’s Appeal Court on Friday.

Judge Jeremy Carey, sitting with Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said Aslam had “used the car as a weapon” and that a long sentence was called for.

However, he acknowledged there was “substantial mitigation” and ruled that Aslam had received insufficient credit for his guilty pleas.

Judge Carey heard how only one of the pedestrians managed to dodge the van – with three of the group injured.

One of them was flung onto the road and another struck the bonnet “full in the face”, while a third “hit the dead centre of the bonnet”.

But miraculously none of them were seriously injured.

The judge who sentenced Aslam had described CCTV footage of what happened as “truly, truly shocking”.

It showed Aslam “quite deliberately mounting the pavement and driving straight at this group and right through the middle of them at speed”.

“It was remarkable that nobody was seriously injured or killed,” he said.

The spark for the attack was an earlier “exchange of words” between Aslam and the men, with Aslam coming to blows with one of them and the pair having to be restrained, the court heard.

The men were walking away when Aslam saw red and hit the accelerator.

As he hurtled towards them, he narrowly missed a woman out walking and a cyclist, said Judge Carey.

Aslam’s challenged his punishment, claiming it was far too tough.

His legal team highlighted his previous immaculate character and responsibilities as a husband and father of a young daughter.

At the time of the incident he had also been fasting through Ramadan for 20 days.

Judge Carey cut Aslam’s sentence from five to four years.