Driver admits killing Marcus Fakana shortly after teen was freed from Dubai jail

A driver has admitted killing a British teenager in car crash shortly after the 19-year-old had been freed from a Dubai jail term for having sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Marwaan Mohamed Huseen, 20, was trying to get away from Met Police officers when he crashed a BMW into a lorry, killing one of his passengers, Marcus Fakana.

A second passenger in the vehicle was also badly hurt in the crash, which happened in the early hours of October 3 last year in Tottenham, north London.

Huseen appeared by videolink at Wood Green Crown Court from HMP Pentonville on Friday to plead guilty to causing the death of Mr Fakana by dangerous driving.

Huseen, who admits being uninsured and unlicensed at the time, also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving to the other passenger hurt in the BMW.

Marcus, from Tottenham, north London, had only been freed from a prison in Dubai three months earlier.

He had been with his parents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the summer 2024 when, at the age of 18, he had a holiday romance with a 17-year-old girl from London.

The teenager spent around a year in prison before being freed 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 were attempting to stop a ‘vehicle of interest’ in Pretoria Road, and after a short pursuit they temporarily lost sight of the vehicle.

When officers then drove in to The Roundway, they found the vehicle had been involved in a crash.

Huseen, of Argyle Road, Tottenham, has been in custody since his arrest at the scene of the crash.

Judge Emma Deacon KC remanded him back into custody on Friday after the guilty pleas.

He is due to submit a basis for his guilty pleas, and a sentencing date will be set at a hearing on February 27.

Huseen did not enter a plea to a third charge of driving without insurance and a licence, but the court was told he admits that he did not have a valid licence or insurance at the time of the crash.

After Mr Fakana’s death, Radha Sterling, chief executive of campaign group Detained in Dubai which had lobbied for his release from prison, said she was ‘heartbroken’ by the news.

‘Marcus spent the majority of this year in a Dubai prison which no doubt caused him long-lasting mental anguish,’ she said.

‘It’s sad that of all of 2025, he was only free for the three months from July 3 until October 3.’

He had been reported to the authorities in the UAE after the girl’s mother saw pictures and messages on her phone.

In Dubai, if an adult has a sexual relationship with a person under 18, they can be prosecuted for having a sexual relationship with a minor.

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