Marina Usaceva had made calls and sent texts before killing Sukhdeep Singh Johal
Marina Usaceva had told police she was not using a phone after crashing her car into the back of another
A female driver who killed a man while using two mobile phones behind the wheel has been jailed by a judge who called such crimes “a plague on society”.
Marina Usaceva had told police she was not using a phone after crashing her car into the back of another, killing Sukhdeep Singh Johal, its driver.
Marina Usaceva had told police she was not using a phone after crashing her car into the back of another, killing Sukhdeep Singh Johal, its driver.
Georgina Gibbs, prosecuting, told a court that Usaceva, 31, continued to deny using the phones despite the findings of a police investigation. She had previously been caught twice using her phone behind the wheel and her licence was endorsed in 2009 and 2012.
Usaceva, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing, was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from driving for eight years.
Judge Sean Enright told her: “If you were not sending texts at the time, then you were fiddling with your phone and that is what caused this collision. In my opinion there is not a scrap of remorse. Mobile phone use while driving is a plague on our society.”
Peterborough Crown Court heard that Usaceva was driving a Jaguar X-Type on the A47 near Wisbech, Cambs, at about 4.30pm in March last year when she hit the Peugeot 206 being driven by Mr Johal, 27, from Leicester, who died at the scene.
A police investigation found that Usaceva, from Peterborough, had used a Sony phone to send a text message at 4.15pm and receive a message at 4.17pm.
A Samsung phone sent one message, made one phone call and received three incoming calls in the 20 minutes leading up to the crash.
Ms Gibbs added that Usaceva’s car was travelling at 70mph or more in a 60mph zone, but that witnesses said it was going significantly faster because it braked sharply for a speed camera, hitting Mr Johal and causing a three-vehicle pile-up.
A Samsung phone sent one message, made one phone call and received three incoming calls in the 20 minutes leading up to the crash.
Ms Gibbs added that Usaceva’s car was travelling at 70mph or more in a 60mph zone, but that witnesses said it was going significantly faster because it braked sharply for a speed camera, hitting Mr Johal and causing a three-vehicle pile-up.
Ian Brownhill, mitigating, said: “There is a gap of six minutes – I would say clear water – between using the phones and the accident itself.”
Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Johal’s father, Buhupinder, said: “Even 60 years wouldn’t be enough, but this is some kind of justice. The only thing we can hope is that others will learn from this. People think nothing of it, but using a mobile phone while driving can kill.”
Insp Bob Turner, who oversaw the investigation for Cambridgeshire Police, said Usaceva had behaved “incredibly foolishly”. “I have never seen anything like it before, it was crass stupidity,” he added.
