Glasgow University student’s family embark on held-without-bail petition following fatal car accident

The family of Lovisa Arnesson-Cronharme, University of Glasgow graduate, are appealing for her alleged killer to be refused bail in trial.

Lovisa was in the US when she was struck by a car that had gone off-road on Tuesday 12th September whilst out running. She passed away aged 25 after being rushed to hospital.

She studied for four years at Glasgow University, attaining a degree in astrophysics this June. She was a keen member of the GU weightlifting club and was the third strongest university student in Scotland for her weight class.

After her time in Scotland, she moved to the US to complete her PhD from Penn State University and be with her partner, Matt Hollingham. The pair were planning on finishing their studies together before heading to back to Stockholm to be closer to her family.

20-year-old Ahmed Alqubaisi was the alleged driver of the vehicle who drove without a license. He is believed to come from significant wealth, with his father being described by Lovisa’s family as “incredibly wealthy”. The family fear that Alqubaisi will flee the country given the opportunity.

They also went on to say that, “he [the father of the alleged killer] can pay whatever amount is asked. If that happens, the driver will flee the country and will never be heard from again. It is incredibly important that he continues to be lame without being able to bail.”

Matt said: “I want to make it very clear that Lovisa died pursuing her dreams. She was running on the sidewalk, and she died. She did nothing wrong, and there wasn’t anything more she could have done in her situation. She was airlifted to hospital, but it was too late. I was lucky enough to be able to hold her hand when she was pronounced dead. She was still beautiful.

“We had already discussed we were going to get married. I was going to propose in the fall, I was going to find a nice clearing in the trees, and when the first snow of fall came in, I was going to get down on one knee and spend the rest of my life with her. We had it all planned out together.”

The family have set up an online petition in the hope convincing the judge in Wednesday’s hearing to refuse bail to Mr Alqubaisi. As of Tuesday, the petition had reached nearly 17,500 signatures.

They have said: “We as a family are now appealing to the public to sign this to be able to file Lovisa’s case. We don’t have a lot of money to pay expensive lawyers but if we could get just your vote, we might be able to influence the judge so that the driver remains in custody without being able to be released on bail.”

Featured image via: Matt Hollingham on Facebook.

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