UK court has sentenced the wife of a US deputy for a fatal accident
2022.12.08 11:39
UK court has sentenced the wife of a US deputy for a fatal accident
Budrigannews.com – In a London court on Thursday, Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, was given an eight-month suspended sentence for causing the death of a teenager in a 2019 fatal crash in England by careless driving.
Harry Dunn, 19, passed on in August 2019 after his cruiser was in an impact with a vehicle driven by Sacoolas close to RAF Croughton, a flying corps base in the English province of Northamptonshire that is utilized by the U.S. military.
Sacoolas, who pleaded guilty in October, appeared via videolink from the United States instead of attending her sentencing at London’s Old Bailey central criminal court.
A witness who was present at the crash site, according to prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, told him that Harry repeatedly said, “Don’t let me die.”
He stated that Sacoolas had acknowledged at the scene that it was her fault and that she had driven on the wrong side of the road, and that she had later told police officers that she had driven on “the American side.”
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Sacoolas, whose husband was an intelligence officer for the United States at the base, fled Britain shortly after the accident on the grounds of diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution, and the United States refused to extradite her.
The accident sparked a diplomatic row between Washington and London, and the British government supported the call for Sacoolas to be tried.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb stated that Sacoolas’s attorneys had informed the court prior to the sentencing hearing that the United States government had advised their client not to attend in person because doing so “could place significant U.S. interests at risk.”
She read a statement from the US attorney for Sacoolas, which said: Mrs. Sacoolas’s presence in person at this hearing is not supported in any way by the United States government. In fact, Mrs. Sacoolas’ employer in the United States government has advised her not to attend.”
