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Driver spared jail for student death
A lorry driver who said he wished he had died after his vehicle toppled over onto a law student's car and killed her has been spared jail.
Chelmsford Crown Court was told that Mohammed Haghir, from Corby, took a bend at Bobbingworth on the A414 in Essex too fast on August 14 last year.
His articulated lorry fell on to the Ford Ka being driven by Nicola Saxton, 19, in the opposite direction. She was trapped and died two hours later.
Haghir, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, has been given a 51- week jail sentence suspended for two years.
He was also disqualified from driving for four years, ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work and be supervised for two years by a probation officer.
The court was told Haghir, 55, of Willow Brook Road, Corby, was driving at 42 mph when the crash happened – two mph faster than the limit for the lorry and the road it was on.
Sentencing Haghir, Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC said he would have to face his actions for the rest of his life.
Judge Goldstaub said: "Of course they don't measure up to the suffering and the bereavement of her family and friends. No punishment I can impose can bring Nicola back or measure the loss of her life."
The court had been told that at the time of the crash Haghir was unaware the lorry he was driving, subcontracted to DHL, had a faulty electronic braking system and roll stability programme, which would normally warn him about potential instability.
Haghir has been diagnosed as suffering post traumatic stress disorder,
doesn't intend to drive again, has lost his livelihood, and has been described as a shell of the man he used to be.
His barrister Karen Dempsey read out a letter Haghir had written for Nicola's family, who were in court.
It said: "I know I will never find complete peace ever again and can only hope you can believe me when I say my most sincere sympathies for your great loss."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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