THE two women badly injured by Mohammed Qasim say they were determined to be in court to see justice done.
“I saw it as some kind of form of closure. I thought it would help some of my emotions,” said Miss Sammon, from Sharples.
“I don’t really know how to feel about the sentence. I am just glad he will get some form of punishment.”
“It was important to come today,” added Miss Hodgson, who is from Little Lever and works as a team manager for Morrisons supermarket.
“I am just relieved it is done and dusted and we don’t have to think about it.”
Miss Hodgson was taking part in her first training session with Burnden Road Runners and was four miles into a five-mile run on the evening of the crash.
“The first thing I knew was his headlights in front of me and in a second I was in a garden,” she said.
She says she still has flashbacks when she sees car headlights approaching her now.
“I’ll probably stick to a treadmill and the park from now on,” she said.
In contrast, her friend, Miss Sammon is keen to get back to running again.
“I am already thinking of races,” she said.
Both women paid tribute to the help they got on the night from people at Moss Bank Way, passers-by who stopped and the continuing support they have had from the running club which they described as “one big family.”
“We want to say thank you to the families that live on Moss Bank Way. The support they gave us was unbelievable,” said Miss Hodgson.
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