A speeding Mercedes driver who mowed down a university student in a hit-and-run as she crossed the road to go to a shop was jailed for three years today.
Tshan Henry, 28, was travelling at “motorway speed” when he struck and killed 22-year-old Yolanda Moore outside Stockwell tube station on August 5 last year.
He failed to stop after the fatal crash, which happened as Ms Moore crossed the road to go to a Costcutter at the end of a night out with friends.
Henry was eventually arrested ten days later, and was found with a letter blaming Ms Moore for “bolting” into the road.
“I'm not a monster, I'm not callous”, he wrote.
“The pain is unbearable. I beg and plead with you to understand that I am sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
Henry pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed and banned from driving for the next five-and-a-half years at Inner London Crown Court.
The court heard Henry was driving at up to 52mph in a 30mph zone in a hired Mercedes C-Class when he hit Ms Moore.
“She crossed the road meaning to go to the Costcutter supermarket next to Stockwell station”, said prosecutor Christopher Foulkes.
“As she crossed, one of her friends heard the brakes of the car before it hit her with a bang.”
He said two witnesses described the car going at “motorway speed” and saw Ms Moore being “catapulted into the air” by the collision.
Mr Foulkes said CCTV showed Ms Moore tried to run out of the way of the car when she realised how fast it was going, and had Henry not been speeding she “would have had enough time to walk across the road safely.
“The collision was unavoidable but it was only unavoidable because he was going too fast”, he added.
The rented car was later found abandoned with damage to the windscreen and bonnet in a side street around a mile from the scene of the crash.
Ms Moore, an English graduate at King's College London, had recently returned to the UK after more than a year working in Australia and New Zealand when she died.
Her father Wayne Moore, the former operations director of luxury yacht company Sunseeker International, told the court his daughter had planned to work with children with special needs in the future.
“This remarkable and exceptional young woman was adored deeply and greatly. This was reflected in the more than 400 people who attended her funeral”, he said.
“The family's dreams of seeing their daughter grow have been destroyed.”
Henry, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
“Yolanda was clearly a much-loved young woman with great promise”, said Judge Jeremy Donne QC.
“I hope that the memory of what she achieved in her short but vibrant life will bring some comfort in the times ahead.
“Apart from the obvious matter of attempting to evade justice, the human consequences of his actions are demonstrated by the contents of the statement prepared by Yolanda Moore’s parents.
“No parent, myself included, could fail to be moved by their utter distress at the tragic loss of such a vibrant and talented young life, caused by the senseless actions of a driver who chose to ignore the law.”
