'There are no words to describe our son,' say tearful parents of five-year-old who died in collision
"A piece of my heart has gone," says the devastated parents of a Walsall schoolboy who died after being struck by a bin lorry.
Five-year-old Abdul Ahad Haroon died despite the efforts of passerbys and the emergency services to save him after the collision in West Bromwich Road near the junction with Broadway, in Fullbrook, on Sunday.
It happened near the former Fullbrook pub close his Weston Street home at about 10am.
His devastated mother Shamila Zabir, 36, a carer, said: "Our lives will never be the same. A piece of my heart has gone with him. I still feel like he is around me in the house even though I know he's gone. I know that I can't see him, but I feel like he's still here.
"We've been watching all the videos that the family made of him. I find it comforting to hear his voice.
"There are no words to describe him and how we're feeling right now. Everything's happened so fast for us. He died on Sunday then we had the funeral on Monday.
"This has left a void in our hearts and it's going to take us a while to come to terms with it. We miss him deeply."
"He used to win over people's hearts. Everybody knew Abdul Ahad when he went to the food shops. Or we'd be at home and relatives would call round to see him because of his personality.
"He loved to dance and talk. He was full of life and had a unique character. He was always running around, he couldn't sit still. He was my miracle baby. He was born on Hajj day which fell on a Sunday in 2016 and he died on a Sunday.
"We don't know what happened to him as yet. I was at work and my husband phoned me to say Abdul Ahad had been in an accident. He was hysterical. It took me 10 minutes to drive back home and when I got here the ambulance and police were at the scene and the road was blocked.
"They were trying to resuscitate him, but I couldn't look so I just prayed that he would be okay. At the hospital they said did all they did all they could to save him, but he had passed away."
Mrs Zabir explained that her son was born prematurely at 27 weeks and had to be resuscitated due to complications, but to everyone's amazement he rallied.
To celebrate his first birthday his aunt Sophia Zabir, 40, of Telford, organised a family party to mark the milestone and had a close bond with her nephew.
"Abdul Ahad acted older than his age. It makes my heart sink to know that he's actually gone," his aunt, a personal assistant said.
He is also survived by barber dad Haroon, 37, sister Zaina, 13, and brother Ibrahim, 10.
He was laid to rest at Willenhall Lawn Cemetery on Monday in keeping with Muslim practice to bury within 24 hours or as soon as practicable following a service held at Masjid Abu Bakr mosque, in Wednesbury Road.
Witnesses to the collision or anyone with dashcam images should contact west-midlands.police.uk via live chat or by phoning 101 quoting incident 1237 of July 17.
