Two people, including an Indian-origin man, have been jailed for killing an 81-year-old Sikh woman in the UK, who was on her way home from a Gurdwara, in a high-speed crash.
Surinder Kaur was hit by a vehicle on Oldbury Road in Rowley Regis at West Midlands County on November 13, news agency PTI reported. Arjun Dosanjh, 26, and Jacek Wiatrowski, 51, did not know each other but decided to race after pulling up at traffic lights next to each other. Both vehicles were significantly exceeding the speed limit.
Wiatrowski, who was driving a BMW, put brakes as he spotted Kaur crossing the road, narrowly missing her. However, he caused Dosanjh, who was driving a Mini, to swerve onto the wrong side of the road, avoiding the BMW but hitting Kaur. “Wiatrowski and Dosanjh did not know each other and were driving competitively – this dangerous and foolish action has cost a life,” said Det Sgt Chris Ridge from West Midlands Police.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. At Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday last, Wiatrowski and Dosanjih were sentenced to six years of imprisonment and banned from driving for eight years, the BBC reported.
In a victim statement read out to the court and released by police, Kaur’s family said: “Our mum lived a very simple life. She was a deeply religious woman and on the day of the accident, she was on her way home from the Gurdwara. “The days and weeks after mum’s death were really tough; as well as trying to come to terms with our loss we had to deal with an ongoing police investigation.
“My first thought every morning is of mum, my last thought every night is of mum. These thoughts are not happy memories, but the thought of the pain she must have experienced in those final moments of her life. These thoughts haunt all of her family.”
(With agency inputs)
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