Two drivers in Britain were sentenced to 12 and 16 years in prison, who, in 2023, turned a busy street in Leeds into an impromptu race track, reaching speeds of up to 145 kilometers per hour, striking and killing a 27-year-old mother and her 4-year-old daughter as they were walking to preschool.
According to the Daily Mail, Justina Hulboy, 27, and her daughter, Lena Cheptsor, were walking to the girl’s preschool on the morning of January 16, 2023, when an Audi TT drove onto the sidewalk and struck them. Both were killed instantly.
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The two drivers, 29-year-old Hardip Batchu and 37-year-old Jaskamal Riyad, did not know each other. They met by chance at a traffic light during the morning rush hour and decided to race, disregarding the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.
Watch a video of the “race”
The fatal race that ended in tragedy
According to testimony heard in the Leeds court, the two men found themselves side by side at a traffic light on the A61 on the morning of January 16, 2023.
Batsou was driving a white Audi TT, while Riyat was behind the wheel of a black BMW 135i.
From that moment on, they began to accelerate sharply, drive at excessive speeds, and perform dangerous maneuvers among the other vehicles, stopping only when they encountered a red light.
In fact, the Audi’s camera recorded the two drivers discussing the performance and horsepower of their cars while they were waiting at one of the traffic lights.
At the last traffic light before the fatal collision, 37-year-old Riyat used his cell phone to film Batsou before both drivers accelerated again.
About 65 meters before the scene of the tragedy, the Audi was traveling at a speed of about 143 kilometers per hour on a road where the speed limit dropped from 64 km/h to 48 km/h.
A few seconds later, the car mounted the sidewalk and struck Justina, who at that moment was helping her four-year-old daughter put on her jacket.
Riyat, who was following in his BMW a short distance behind, fled the scene of the accident.
Two men have been jail for dangerous driving which a mother and her 4 year old daughter we’re killed. Hardeep Bhachu, aged 29, of Grant Row Adel, Leeds was jailed for 12 years causing the deaths of 27-year-old Justyna Hulboj and her daughter Lena Czepczor by dangerous driving. Jasskamal Riyat ( 1st pic) was jailed for 16 years found guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and he was sentenced today to 16 years.
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) October 26, 2026
“The road is not a racetrack”
Hardip Batchu pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter due to reckless driving and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In contrast, Jashkamal Riyad denied participating in an impromptu street race, but was found guilty of the same offenses following a trial held earlier this year. The court sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
When announcing the sentences, Judge Ray Singh delivered a stern message to the two convicted men.
“The road is not a racetrack. A powerful car is not an invitation to test one’s limits on public roads,” he emphasized.
“The consequences of competitive driving at extreme speeds can be—and in this particular case were—irreversible. Two people lost their lives,” he added.
The judge placed particular emphasis on the fact that the two victims had no way to protect themselves from the drivers’ dangerous behavior.
“One was a 27-year-old mother and the other was her four-year-old daughter. They had done nothing wrong. They were simply walking to school,” he said.
He continued: “Two families must now live with a loss that can never be replaced. Justina and Lena were supposed to have gone to school that morning. They were supposed to have returned home. They were supposed to have continued their lives.”
“Instead, their lives ended on a sidewalk because two drivers chose to drive in a way that prioritized speed and competition over the safety of everyone around them,” he concluded.
“I told them, ‘I love you,’ without knowing that it would be the last time I’d see them,”
Particularly moving was the testimony of Dominic Cheptor, the 27-year-old’s fiancé and father of little Lena, who described how the tragedy destroyed his life.
“My whole world collapsed in a single second,” he said in his statement to the court.
“Before January 16, 2023, my life was the fulfillment of my greatest dreams. I had everything that matters in life. I had a good job, a wonderful fiancée, Justina, and a wonderful daughter, Lena,” he said.
He then described the last time he said goodbye to his family.
“Unfortunately, on the morning of January 16, when I said goodbye to my family by telling them ‘I love you,’ I didn’t know it would be the last time I’d see them.”
He explained that their loss has left a void that cannot be filled.
“Every day I feel a huge void from their absence, and I imagine what our lives would be like if they were still here. We had so many plans and dreams, and in an instant, it was all over,” he said.
“I know I’ll have to live with the burden of losing the two most important people in my life for the rest of my life,” she added.
“I wish I could live a normal life again, without all of this, but I know that’s no longer possible. No one can bring my fiancée and my daughter back. This nightmare will last my whole life,” he concluded.
The defense strategy of the two drivers
During the proceedings, Batsos’s attorney, Susanna Proctor, argued that her client is an “ordinary man who made a huge mistake.”
For his part, Riyat insisted that he was not driving recklessly and attempted to place the blame for the accident solely on Batsou.
The 37-year-old had, however, admitted that he was driving at speeds of up to 80 km/hhour on a road with a speed limit of 64 km/h, that he had illegally used his cell phone while driving, and that he had passed other vehicles on the left.
The court rejected his claim that he was not involved in the dangerous race, convicting both drivers for the deaths of the young mother and her four-year-old daughter.
The case was concluded in court with the imposition of the sentences, leaving behind two families who must now live with the consequences of a tragedy that unfolded in a matter of seconds.
Source: Protothema.gr
