'Heartbroken' mother 'disgusted' at 12-month sentence for joyrider who killed teen son

The mother of a teenage moped rider who died in a hit-and-run crash told of her disgust today after the joyrider who killed him was sent to prison for just 12 months.

Joanne O’Keefe, 40, said she has been left “absolutely heartbroken” after Ali Bahramzadeh, 23, was jailed for killing her son Alfie O’Keefe Hedges, 16.

The driver had taken his mother’s black Nissan Pixo without permission and had no licence or insurance when he knocked Alfie off his moped at a roundabout in North Finchley.

Bahramzadeh, a convicted drug dealer, abandoned the car and fled before police and paramedics arrived at the scene shortly before 6pm on November 17, 2016.

At Wood Green crown court last week, Judge Joanna Greenberg QC sentenced Bahramzadeh to 12 months behind bars and banned him from the roads for 30 months.

Miss O’Keefe, a mother-of-three from East Barnet, said: “I’m disgusted, absolutely heartbroken that he was only given a year’s sentence, so he will only serve six months in prison.

“Alfie was killed like that and he [Bahramzadeh] gets to live his life again by the summer. I knew he wouldn’t get a lot, but that I didn’t expect.”

She added: “I feel there’s been no justice for Alfie whatsoever, he died for nothing, he died for no reason. I think for people… who kill someone on the road they should be given life.”

Speaking for the first time about trainee mechanic Alfie’s death, Miss O’Keefe said she saw traffic queued up as she drove past Buxted Road, and went to investigate when her son did not answer his phone.

The 6ft 7in Arsenal fan, described as a “gentle giant”, died in his mother’s arms after his family made the agonising decision to turn his life-support machine off eight days later.

Miss O’Keefe said: “We were told that Alfie would never ever wake up or be responsive or hold someone’s hand.”

Bahramzadeh, of Golders Green, handed himself in to police several hours after the crash — but then tried to take a driving test a week later. He pleaded guilty last month to causing death by careless driving, causing death while unlicensed and uninsured and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. A charge of aggravated vehicle taking was left to lie on file.