What to Know
- A New Jersey man was sentenced on Thursday for a 2021 car crash that killed beloved Lower Merion High School principal Sean Hughes.
- Azuka Ossai, 55, of Pine Hill, New Jersey, was sentenced to 90 days in home confinement or house arrest, five years probation and numerous fines.
- Ossai was speeding and ran through a stop sign at the time of the deadly crash. Hughes' widow, Kristi Hughes, addressed Ossai during the sentencing hearing.
Kristi Hughes was full of emotion on Thursday as she recounted the day her husband, beloved Lower Merion High School principal Sean Hughes, was killed in a car crash.
“I heard the machines and their alarms,” she said. “I watched my husband, my best friend, my partner in life, die in front of me.”
On November 13, 2021, shortly before 7:30 a.m., Azuka Ossai, 55, was driving a Mercedes SUV at the intersection of Fleming Pike and Hays Road in Winslow Township, New Jersey.
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Police said Ossai was speeding and went through a stop sign when he crashed into a Ford SUV driven by Sean Hughes. Hughes, 51, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead later that day at 10:19 a.m.
Hughes’ 13-year-old son was also inside the vehicle and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Hughes was taking the teen to a soccer tournament at the time of the crash.
Ossai was arrested on March 10, 2022, and charged with vehicular homicide by operating a vehicle recklessly and assault by auto.
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Kristi Hughes addressed Ossai directly during his sentencing hearing on Thursday.
“Are you aware of the value of the life you took? And the value of the lives you destroyed?” she asked.
Kristi Hughes, who is also a cancer survivor, said she asked her teenage sons to leave the courtroom on Thursday because they have “been through enough pain, trauma and anguish.” Her 11-year-old daughter also refused to attend the sentencing hearing, which was ultimately the result of a plea agreement negotiated by the prosecutor and defense attorney.
In the agreement, Ossai admitted to speeding through the stop sign at Fleming Pike and Hays Road before crashing into Hughes’ vehicle.
“I have so many questions about that moment,” Kristi Hughes said Thursday. “Like how can you speed through and miss a stop sign that you travel through every day to and from work? Were you rushing to get to that butcher shop? Was it really that important? Were you on your phone? Were you under the influence?”
Ossai, who was a caretaker at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, was in tears as he apologized in front of Hughes’ widow and other loved ones.
“I’m deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Judge Yolanda Rodriguez called Hughes’ death an extraordinary loss for his family and the thousands of lives he touched in the Lower Merion School District. She ultimately decided to sentence Ossai to 90 days in home confinement or house arrest, five years probation and numerous fines. She factored in the fact that he is paying $5,000 in restitution, performing community service and had never been in any trouble with the law prior to the deadly crash.
As the principal of Lower Merion High School for 14 years, Hughes was an educator, coach and mentor to thousands of generations of students.
“I was so jealous of Sean because he just knew everyone and everyone knew him. He knew every single student by name," Wallingford School District Superintendent Dr. Wagner Marseille said in his impact statement in the courtroom on Thursday.
In his letter to families announcing Hughes’ death in 2021, Lower Merion School superintendent Dr. Khalid N. Mumin wrote that Hughes was “beloved” by thousands of Lower Merion students over the years.
“He knew most of them by name and always had time to listen to their concerns, cheer them on and support their accomplishments,” Dr. Mumin wrote. “They greeted him in the halls by calling out his signature nickname, 'Huuuuuuughes.' He welcomed each one at 9th grade orientation and proudly handed out diplomas at their graduations.”
In addition to being the principal of Lower Merion High School, Hughes was also President of the Central Athletic League.
“He wasn’t finished with living,” Kristi Hughes said. “One person’s carelessness robbed us of this amazing and gifted individual far too soon and with far too much left to give his family and colleagues, his students and the world.”
