Double-decker bus driver who killed girl, nine, after ploughing into her high on drugs has sentence increased to six years and eight months
Martin Asolo-Ogugua, 24, was sentenced in April to four years after he ploughed into Ada Bicakci as she travelled to a gymnastics class with her father and brother in Bexleyheath, south London.
He was found to be three times the legal level of cannabis having been up all night at a social event.
Asolo-Ogugua and had been seen yawning and driving the bus erratically minutes before the crash in which he appeared to have fallen asleep for '15 seconds'.
Ada died two days later in hospital, with Asolo-Ogugua jailed after admitting causing her death by dangerous driving and driving while unfit through drugs.
The Solicitor General referred his sentence to the Court of Appeal, arguing at a hearing on Wednesday that it was 'unduly lenient' and should be increased.
Three senior judges ruled the sentence should be raised to six years and eight months, and that Asolo-Ogugua should be disqualified from driving for five years upon his release.
Lord Justice Dingemans, sitting with Mr Justice Hilliard and Sir Robin Spencer, said that Asolo-Ogugua had 'acknowledged that he had destroyed his victim's family, and his own', but had 'disregarded the risk of danger to others for the period that he was driving'.
He said: 'He must have appreciated that he was in no fit state to drive, but continued to drive.'
Peter Ratliff, appearing for the Solicitor General, told the court that Asolo-Ogugua worked as a bus driver for Arriva and arrived for work on the morning of August 3, having only returned home from a social event at around 6.30am.
He left a depot in Dartford at around 8.45am in a double-decker bus, with CCTV from the cab showing Asolo-Ogugua 'yawning repeatedly, appearing drowsy, his eyes appeared to close on occasion, and other road users noted his vehicle was being driven erratically' over around 13 minutes, Mr Ratliff said.
Asolo-Ogugua then appeared to fall asleep for 'up to 15 seconds', with the bus drifting across the road and colliding with Ada in Watling Street, Bexleyheath.
After being arrested at the scene, he admitted the two offences in April this year and was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court.
Mr Ratliff continued that Asolo-Ogugua's sentence should be increased as there was 'a lack of attention to driving for a substantial period of time' and driving 'when deprived of adequate sleep'.
He said: 'He must have appreciated from the outset, if he had not already, that he was in no fit state to drive and what he was doing was therefore inherently dangerous.'
The barrister acknowledged that Asolo-Ogugua 'made efforts to seek assistance for the victim' at the time of the collision and had subsequently 'demonstrated clear remorse'.
Asolo-Ogugua watched proceedings via a video link from HMP Isis in south London, with his mother in attendance at court.
Gregory Fishwick, representing him, said the case was a 'tragedy', and that while the sentence 'might be classified as lenient', it was 'not unduly so'.
He said: 'He will never forget this. It was a tragedy, one that he will feel forever.'
Following the hearing, Solicitor General Lucy Rigby said: 'Martin Asolo-Oguagua's selfishness needlessly took the life of a young girl, causing irreparable damage to a family.
'I welcome the court's decision to increase his sentence and would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Ada's family.'
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
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James Cook Scotland editor • @BBCJamesCook BBC Nicola Sturgeon's memoir Frankly is now on sale, slightly earlier than expected after newspaper serialisations and interviews teased some tantalising extracts. True to its title, the book has Scotland's former first minister writing candidly about the highs and lows of her time in office including challenges she says had a serious impact on her mental health. So with the full text now available, what are the key things we have learned? Transgender controversy After more than eight years in power, and eight election victories, Sturgeon saw final months in office marred by rows about trans issues. It was, she writes in her memoir, a time of "rancour and division". Sturgeon now admits to having regrets about the process of trying to legislate to make it easier to legally change gender, saying she has asked herself whether she should have "hit the pause button" to try to reach consensus. 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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Anger, fear and a total rejection of politics: the Palestine Action protest was a snapshot of Britain today
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Yet any electoral consequences from the scenes in Parliament Square, and from likely sequels, are hardly the only things at stake in the Palestine Action controversy. At mid-afternoon on Saturday, with the police cordon tightening around us, I got talking to two elderly protesters who had watched people being arrested beside them. 'I'm in two minds about carrying on with this,' one of them said, opening and closing her piece of cardboard with its illegal message. Defiant earlier, she now seemed frightened. The legally safe space for protest in Britain is shrinking again. Meanwhile in Gaza, there's no safe space for anything at all. Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Nicola Sturgeon: I cried in the toilets after being bullied by MSP
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