A five-year-old boy from Nottingham died as a result of multiple injuries sustained in a road traffic accident whilst on holiday, an inquest has been told. Harry Nuzi was on holiday with his mum, dad, and two older brothers in Albania in August 2021 where they had been staying at a seaside resort in Shëngjin, in the district of Lezhë.
It was heard on Wednesday, March 8, at Nottingham Coroner's Court that the family had been planning a trip to the beach. The inquest, led by senior coroner Mairin Casey, was told to get to the beach the family had to cross a single carriageway road, which had cars travelling in both directions.
Providing evidence for the inquest, Nottinghamshire Police officer Sarah Butler, who works within the serious investigation road collision unit at the force's Sherwood Lodge headquarters, said: "It's a very built up area of both parked cars and cars travelling through that section of road."
She added that the road was 40kmph, which was equivalent to 25mph. It was explained from CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses that Harry had been walking near his mum as she was carrying all of the toys for the beach, but he later decided he wanted to catch up with his older brothers and uncle who were walking a little ahead.
However, in doing so he was sadly hit by a vehicle. Ms Casey, who had previously seen CCTV footage from the incident, said: "There were a number of eyewitnesses to this collision, including members of Harry's family.
"It's clear that this van struck Harry and he sustained catastrophic injuries." It was confirmed that these injuries, including "an extensive head injury" would have resulted in instant death, so Harry would not have been aware of what was happening or felt any pain.
Harry died on August 18, 2021. The inquest was told that the driver initially tried to flee, but he has since been arrested, prosecuted and convicted, and is currently serving four years in prison.
Ms Casey confirmed the cause of death was multiple injuries by the road traffic collision. She added: "As this is not a criminal court, the conclusion I arrive at is road traffic collision. If it happened here in the UK the likelihood is that it would have never come before this court, but would have been dealt with in crown court as a criminal offence.
"To miss Besmira and all your family, especially Harry's father and his two brothers, my most sincere condolences." Ms Casey said it had taken a long time for the case to get to the stage of a full inquest because they have been waiting on the Albanian authorities.
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