Driver admits killing teen in crash just months after he had been freed from Dubai jail
A driver has admitted causing the death of a British teenager in a car crash in north London, shortly after the 19-year-old was released from a Dubai prison.
Marwaan Mohamed Huseen, 20, pleaded guilty after crashing his BMW into a lorry during a Metropolitan Police pursuit.
Passenger Marcus Fakana (19) died in the accident that occurred in Tottenham in the early hours of October 3 last year. Fakana had recently been released from a Dubai prison sentence for sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl. The second passenger in the vehicle was also seriously injured.
At Wood Green Crown Court on Friday, Huseen appeared by video link from HMP Pentonville to plead guilty to causing the death of Mr Fakana by dangerous driving.
Huseen, who admitted he was uninsured and unlicensed at the time, also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury to another passenger in the BMW by driving dangerously.
The crash occurred just three months after Mr Fakana, from Tottenham, north London, was released from a prison in Dubai.
He was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with his parents in the summer of 2024, and when he was 18, he had a holiday romance with a 17-year-old girl from London.
The teenager spent nearly a year in prison before being released thanks to a royal pardon from Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
At the time of the fatal car crash, the Met Police said officers attempted to stop a “relevant vehicle” on Pretoria Road in Tottenham and temporarily lost sight of the vehicle after a short pursuit.
When officers later attended The Roundway they found the vehicle had been involved in an accident.
“Police were on patrol on the N18 Pretoria Road at approximately 00.52am when they attempted to stop a vehicle of interest,” Scotland Yard said in a statement.
“After following the vehicle for approximately 60 seconds, police temporarily lost sight of it before locating it at The Roundway, N17, where it was involved in a collision.
“Officers were supported by the London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance and a 19-year-old man was taken to hospital where he sadly died.
“He has since been named Tottenham’s Marcus Fakana.”
Huseen, of Argyle Road, Tottenham, has been held in custody since his arrest at the scene of the crash.
Judge Emma Deacon KC remanded him into custody on Friday following the guilty plea.
He will present the basis for his guilty plea and the sentencing date will be set at a hearing on February 27.
Huseen did not contest the third charge of driving without insurance or a licence, but the court was told he accepted he did not have a valid license or insurance at the time of the accident.
After Mr Fakana’s death, Radha Sterling, chief executive of the Detained in Dubai campaign group, which lobbied for his release from prison, said she was “heartbroken” by the news.
“Marcus has spent much of this year in Dubai prison, which has undoubtedly caused him long-term mental suffering,” he said.
“It is a pity that he will only be free for three months in 2025, from July 3 to October 3.”
It was reported to the authorities in the UAE after the girl’s mother saw the pictures and messages on her phone.
In Dubai, if an adult has sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 18, that person can be prosecuted for having sexual intercourse with a minor.
