Delivery driver who killed girl, 7, in head-on crash after she had been to McDonald’s with her father is jailed for six years
A delivery driver who killed a seven-year-old girl after a dangerous overtake in a hidden ditch was today jailed for six years.
Veselin Dudenski, 39, was delivering parcels when his van crashed into a car carrying Elsie Gascoigne and her father Jamie in Nocton, Lincolnshire, on January 3.
Elsie was returning home from a shopping trip when two vehicles collided.
He died in hospital the next day, while his father, who was driving, was left with permanent injuries.
Dudenski pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Gascoigne and causing serious injury to Mr Gascoigne by dangerous driving.
The defendant, who has been a professional van and lorry driver for 17 years, was jailed and disqualified from driving for eight years at Lincoln Crown Court today.
Dudenski, who was informed by the court that he had a young child, was also told that he could be automatically deported because he was a Bulgarian citizen.
Passing sentence, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told the defendant: ‘You did not take the time and care necessary to ensure that it was clear when you crossed the center line and crossed into the other carriageway.
‘To this day I see no remorse for Elsie and her family.’
Elsie’s mother’s victim impact statement was read in court on behalf of the entire family.
‘That day destroyed our lives and everything we had as a family,’ he said.
He described Elsie as a child who ‘loved animals, especially horses, and dreamed of owning a white horse’.
‘We will never recover from this situation. “Our daughter was seven years old, full of love, light and laughter, and she left us forever,” he added.
7-year-old Elsie Gascoigne died when her father’s car collided head-on with a minibus driven dangerously by 39-year-old Veselin Dudenski.
Dudenski, who the court heard had a young child, was also told that he was automatically liable for deportation because of his foreign nationality.
Dudenski was working as an agency delivery driver when he tried to cross the B1202 at Metheringham Heath.
Prosecutor Claire Holmes said Elsie was a pillion passenger in a blue Kia car and was on her way home from a shopping trip and visiting McDonald’s when Dudenski’s white Citroen Relay van crashed into her car at around 5.45pm.
Ms Holmes told the court Dudenski had already passed a Ford Ranger and a short time later moved to the wrong side of the road to pass another unknown vehicle in the hidden ditch.
The driver of the Ford Ranger described the first pass as safe but the second pass as ‘stupid’, the court heard.
Ms Holmes said: ‘There were warnings about hidden potholes, road markings and road markings.
‘Dudenski either paid too little attention and did not see the warnings, or he did and ignored them.’
The prosecutor said Mr Gascoigne tried to escape but a head-on collision could not be avoided.
The driver of the Ford Ranger stopped to help but was unable to open the Kia’s doors.
The witness saw Elsie in the back of the vehicle and told Dudensk: ‘You killed a child.’
Elsie, of Metheringham, Lincs, was taken to hospital after suffering a broken neck but died in the early hours of the next morning.
Mr Gascoigne was also seriously injured in the collision and was left with a permanent injury to his elbow. He continues to have flashbacks and nightmares.
Charles Myatt, mitigating, accepted Dudenski was familiar with the area but said he mistakenly thought he was in a different part of the road.
‘He didn’t know the secret pit was there,’ Mr Myatt explained. ‘He thought he was further down the road.’
Dudenski was sentenced to six years in prison for causing death by dangerous driving, as well as 22 months in prison for causing serious injury to Mr Gascoigne.
The court heard Dudenski had permanent resident status in the UK but was now subject to automatic deportation.
