Nine points ain’t stopping me driving ...
68mph boy racer mocked court before he killed girl crossing road
A BOY racer who boasted that nine points on his licence wouldn’t stop him speeding has been jailed after killing a 19-year-old girl.
Abdul Sujac, 22, was driving at 68mph in a 30mph zone in his black BMW, swerving in and out of traffic, when he hit student Laura Ann Keyes as she crossed a road.
After he was arrested, police discovered Sujac regularly posted online videos of his ‘senseless’ driving and had more than 4,000 video clips on his phone, including footage of him on the wrong side of the road, chasing an ambulance and boasting of reaching 146mph.
They also found that a few months earlier, after he had been fined and given nine points on his licence by magistrates for seriously injuring a pedestrian outside Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, he sent a bragging video to friends with the caption: ‘Nine points ain’t stopping me from driving.’
Miss Keyes’ family said they were ‘ shocked and broken’ at learning of Sujac’s past after he was jailed for six years and three months on Friday.
Miss Keyes, originally from Derbyshire, was studying musical theatre at Trinity Laban conservatoire in Greenwich, south-east London, at the time of her death.
She was out with friends celebrating the end of term on November 30 last year when she was hit and killed by Sujac in Deptford, south-east London.
Harpreet Sandhu, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court that Sujac’s phone had footage of him ‘driving at excessive speeds and seemingly revelling in doing so, undertaking and overtaking and driving on the wrong side’.
On a clip from August 22 last year, Sujac wrote: ‘ABDUL ripping the road 146mph.’
Following Sujac’s sentencing, Detective Sergeant Richard Budd of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: ‘The evening that Laura died she had been enjoying a night out with her friends and enjoying her life, before it was tragically cut short in the most cruel and sudden of circumstances. Sujac’s senseless and irresponsible actions have robbed Laura’s family of a person who by all accounts was a well- loved and well- liked young woman, who had the rest of her life to look forward to.
‘Sujac will now have a substantial custodial sentence to reflect on his actions.
‘ I hope this will act as a reminder to other motorists to drive safely and responsibly so as to spare anyone else the devastation that Laura’s family have been caused.’
Amee Patel, a senior crown prosecutor in the London homicide unit, said: ‘This was a terrible and avoidable death. Sujac had a cavalier attitude to driving and he now will have to face the consequences of his deliberate decision to drive dangerously.’
Sujac, from Stratford, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving, was also banned from driving for five years and must pass an extended test to regain his licence.