A delivery driver who killed a seven-year-old girl when he performed a dangerous overtake in a hidden dip was today jailed for six years.
Veselin Dudenski, 39, was delivering parcels when his van smashed head-on into a car carrying Elsie Gascoigne and her father, Jamie, in Nocton, Lincolnshire, on January 3.
Elsie had been on her way home from a shopping trip when the two vehicles collided.
She died the next day in hospital while her father, who was driving the car, was left with permanent injuries.
Dudenski pleaded guilty to causing her death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to Mr Gascoigne.
The defendant, who has been driving vans and lorries professionally for 17 years, was today jailed at Lincoln Crown Court and disqualified from driving for eight years.
Dudenski, who the court heard has a young child, was also told that he is liable to automatic deportation because he is a foreign national.
Passing sentence, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told the defendant: ‘You simply did not take the time and care you needed to ensure that when you crossed the centre line into the other carriageway it was clear.
‘I did not until today see remorse for Elsie and her family.’
A victim impact statement from Elsie’s mother was read out in court on behalf of the whole family.
‘That day destroyed our lives and everything we were as a family,’ she stated.
She described Elsie as a child who ‘loved animals, especially horses and dreamed of owning a white horse.’
‘We will never recover from this. Our daughter was seven years old, full of love, light and laughter, and she is gone forever,’ she added.
Elsie Gascoigne, 7, was killed when her father’s car was involved in a head-on collision with a van being driven dangerously by Veselin Dudenski, 39
Dudenski, who the court heard has a young child, was also told that he is liable to automatic deportation because he is a foreign national
Dudenski was working as a sub-contracted delivery driver when he attempted the overtake on the B1202 at Metheringham Heath.
Claire Holmes, prosecuting, said Elsie was a rear passenger in a blue Kia car and travelling home from a trip shopping and visiting McDonalds when the vehicle was struck head-on by Dudenski’s white Citroen Relay van at around 5.45pm.
Ms Holmes told the court Dudenski had already overtaken a Ford Ranger and then, a short time later, moved onto the wrong side of the road to pass another unknown vehicle in the hidden dip.
The driver of the Ford Ranger said the first overtake was safe but described the second pass as ‘silly,’ the court heard.
Ms Holmes said: ‘There were warnings of the hidden dip, road signs and road markings.
‘Either Dudenski paid insignificant attention and did not see the warnings or he saw them and ignored them.’
The prosecutor said Mr Gascoigne tried to take evasive action but a head-on collision could not be avoided.
The driver of the Ford Ranger stopped to help but could not open the doors of the Kia.
The witness could see Elsie in the back of the vehicle and told Dudensk: ‘You killed a kid.’
Elsie, from Metheringham, Lincs, was taken to hospital after suffering a broken neck but died in the early hours of the following morning.
Mr Gascoigne also suffered serious injuries in the collision and was left with a permanent disability to his elbow. He continues to suffer from flashbacks and nightmares.
Charles Myatt, mitigating, admitted Dudenski was familiar with the area but said he mistakenly thought he was at a different part of the road.
‘He did not know the hidden dip was there,’ Mr Myatt explained. ‘He thought it was further along the road.’
Dudenski was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving with a concurrent sentence of 22 months imprisonment for causing serious injury to Mr Gascoigne.
The court heard Dudenski has permanent settled status in the UK but is now liable for automatic deportation.
