A man who killed Indian origin doctor Jasjot Singhota in a road traffic collision in January 2017 after failing to clear frost from his car windscreen has been jailed after he pleaded guilty to careless driving and driving uninsured.
Scotland Yard said on Monday that Alexander Fitzgerald, 26, was sentenced at the Kingston Crown Court to 10 months imprisonment for causing death by careless driving, reduced from 16 months, and four and a half months for causing death by driving uninsured, to be served concurrently. He was also disqualified from driving for 23 months.
Singhota, 30, was a doctor working for the Guys and St Thomas National Health Service Trust. She was walking on the footpath in Dulwich, south London, when Fitzgerald, a university student, ploughed into her at the junction with Birkbeck Hill.
She was taken to a south London hospital, where she died on January 26 due to traumatic brain injury.
Her sister, Neha Santasalo, said in a statement: “Although this will not bring Jasjot back, the sentencing today provides closure allowing us to focus on our sister, her life and all that she achieved.”
“This sentence shows how important it is to clear your windscreen before driving off in the morning, especially during the cold weather. This is a simple action that takes no time at all but can prevent any other family having to go through what we have.”
Detective constable Sejal Unadkat, who led the investigation, said: “This is an incident that could have been avoided entirely if only Fitzgerald had taken the proper precautions in ensuring his visibility was not impaired by the frost on his windscreen.
“He didn’t, and as a result Jasjot’s family, and indeed society, has been robbed of a much-loved and talented individual who worked as a doctor to improve the lives of others.”
“Through being an organ donor Jasjot has saved the lives of five other people since her death; a fact that both comforts her family in their grief, and fills them with immeasurable pride at what a selfless and kind person she truly was,” Unadkat added.