An Indian-origin drunk-driver in the UK, who hit and killed three teenage boys as they walked to a birthday party in London, was handed down a 13-year jail term. The victims’ parents, reacting to the sentencing, said the jail term was “an insult to the lives of their children”. Jaynesh Chudasama, 28, had admitted to driving at more than two-and-a-half times over the alcohol limit on January 26 when the fatal collision occurred near a bus stop at Hayes, West London. The court heard that traces of cannabis had also been found in his car hire worker’s system.
Chudasama had pleaded guilty to charges of three counts of death by dangerous driving after the road collision that killed three teenage boys. Harry Rice, 17, George Wilkinson and Josh McGuinness, both 16, were instantly killed as they were hit by Chudasama’s speeding car. “It is obvious that nothing any court can do can measure the loss of Josh, Harry and George for the obvious reason that their loss is immeasurable,” said Judge Wendy Joseph, during the sentencing hearing.
The judge also disqualified Chudasama from driving for 13 years and six months. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the drunk-driver had refused to say what he had been drinking but was estimated to have had a blood alcohol concentration of about 213 milligrams per 100 millilitres at the time of the crash. The legal limit for driving in the UK is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. “The decision by Jaynesh Chudasama, to drink far in excess of the legal limit and then drive his car at such a speed, needlessly ended the lives of three young men,” said Sally-Anne Russell of the CPS.
“Anyone who drives a motor vehicle whilst under the influence of excess alcohol should know they are putting not only their own lives at risk, but those of other motorists and pedestrians too. Chudasama faces the consequences of causing the fatal collision,” she said. Chudasama was driving at 71 mph in a 60 mph zone and ended up mounting the pavement in his car as he attempted a dangerous manoeuvre to overtake another vehicle, killing the three teenagers walking home with five other friends from a birthday party.
The grieving families are planning online petitions to demand the conviction be reconsidered and a charge of murder applied to the dangerous driving charge, which would involve a tougher sentence. Tracy Blackwell, mother of Josh McGuinness who was killed in the crash, said Chudasama should be made an example of. She told the court: “He chose to hit our children at this speed when they were walking on the pavement, where they should have been safe. He chose to run away like a coward. I truly believe he would not be in this country if he had been able to get away”.
As she stepped down from the witness stand, she told Chudasama in the dock: “You’re going to rot in hell, mate”. Despite the efforts of paramedics, all three boys were pronounced dead at the scene. “We are all shocked and deeply saddened. Our thoughts and condolences are with their families, friends and loved ones,” the head-teacher of Harefield Academy, the school attended by the victims, had said at the time of the accident. Photographs from the scene showed the smashed wreckage of the car, including a caved-in fence.
