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Plead guilty and get just 2 years.



Beatrice Mawamba (Right) and Shamirah Grant Photo: ROSS PARRY

I was really shocked today when I read about the tragic death of 9 year old Shamirah Grant. Beatrice Mawamba, 34, was driving a green Vauxhall car when she careered down a narrow alleyway into a grassed children’s play area and crushed Shamirah Grant and injured two other girls, one seriously.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said: “When challenged by the police, she was unable to say which pedal was the brake.”

In passing sentence, Mr Justice Openshaw said Mawamba was “profoundly ignorant’’ of the most basic driving skills. “She did not know how to apply the brake pedal; she could not find the brake pedal; she did not know where it was or what purpose it served.’’ The judge said that setting off driving when “so lacking the most basic driving skills’’ amounted to a “thoughtless disregard for the safety of others’’.

Mawamba, a mother-of-three from Chapeltown, Leeds, admitted causing death by dangerous driving. She was jailed for two years and banned from driving for five years and must take an extended test when her ban ends.

I am really shocked at the leniency of this custodial sentence, just 2 years for causing death by dangerous driving. Even Jacko's doctor got 4 years. Okay, there should be a reduction in sentencing when the defendant pleads guilty but 2 years for causing death by dangerous driving seems very lenient.

Following yesterday’s sentencing, Gary and Jennifer Grant, the victim’s parents, said in a statement that “Shamirah’s death has left a heart-rending gap within our family’s lives”. But they said they had “forgiven those present in the vehicle”, adding: “We appreciate that such a terrible event was not intentional.”

I do not think I could have forgiven Beatrice if it had been my daughter and sentencing her to just 2 years would have increased my grief.