Motorist who killed sisters, 7 and 6, after ploughing into family on their way to Sunday school is jailed for 4yrs

A SPEEDING driver who killed two young sisters and injured three others when he ploughed into them on their way to Sunday school has been jailed for four years. Michael Junior, 35, killed Lily and Shelly Wu, seven and six, as they held hands while walking over a pedestrian crossing in June last year. 

Michael Junior has been jailed for four years after Shelly and Lily Wu were killed on their way to Sunday school when he ploughed his car into them

Their mum Zhulan and two other kids were also injured, with a court hearing the mother was sectioned earlier this year due to the psychological scars from the crash. Earlier this week the dad of five admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Birmingham crown court.

Shelly, left, and Lily died in hospital the day after they were struck by a car as they walked with their mum and two other children

 Jurors heard the two girls had been walking with mum Zhulan and two kids who cannot be named when Junior struck them in his grey Seat Leon. Witnesses saw a group of people walk out in front of a parked bus before the accident in the Handsworth area of the city on June 21.

Engineer Michael Junior, right, arrived at court this morning where he was sentenced to four years in prison for causing death by dangerous driving

A court heard Junior had accelerated to get around the bus just before a blind left-hand bend, leaving himself no time to react when the family crossed in front of him. He had also ignored signs warning of elderly pedestrians crossing and another that said "slow", and chevron markings on the road signalling a crossing ahead.

As he overtook the vehicle the bus driver sounded the horn to try to warn Zhulan and the children.
Using CCTV from the bus investigators worked out Junior had been travelling at 47mph in the 30mph zone.


Following the crash paramedics took the siblings to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where they died the following morning. Zhulan, 39, was left fighting for her life after being placed in a chemically-induced coma at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The two other children were also injured.

The group were en route to Chinese Sunday School, which they attended every week, when tragedy struck.Sentencing Junior, Judge Murray Creed told him: "This case is a tragedy for you and your family, but a much greater tragedy for the Wu family as the two young children's lives were ended by your driving.

"You struck that group of pedestrians almost as they reached the central reservation marked ahead of them. "Mrs Wu (and the other children) hit the front and were thrown to the floor. But unhappily, the two smaller children were carried a short distance along the bonnet before being left to lie in the road, both fatally injured."

Prosecutor Gareth Walters said the girls suffered "unsurvivable" head injuries, with one hospital surgeon adding Shelly's wounds were "one of the most severe head injuries he'd seen in a child".
Mr Walters said the other two children had recovered but added that while Zhulan's wounds had healed, she had been left with "significant" mental health problems.

He said: "At the girls' funeral, Mrs Wu didn't remember they were her children due to her brain injury and blames herself for the loss of her daughters." He added that because of depression and suicidal tendencies, she had to be sectioned for six days in January.

Her husband Ming Wu, in a victim impact statement read to the court, said: "She spends most of her time hiding in the bedroom, and won't go out and have contact with anyone."

Junior, an engineer from Handsworth, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, and three of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He apologised in court through his barrister.
Outside court, Alex Yip, a friend of the Wu family, said: "Four years is not long enough for us this is a life sentence."