SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On the morning of 6 October 2021 on Eglinton Street at its junction with Bedford Street and Cook Street in Glasgow you failed to stop at a red traffic light, entered the junction and, as a result, your car was involved in a collision with another car – the driver of which was entirely blameless for the collision.

As a consequence of the collision, your car mounted the pedestrian footpath and collided with and damaged a sign post pole there. Noor Court was then walking on that footpath. The sign post pole you struck hit her on the head, injuring her so severely that, despite medical treatment, she died at the scene.  

You are 38 years of age. You have no previous convictions. I have regard to all that is said in the CJSWR, to the reference given on your behalf and to all that has been said on your behalf by Mr Guarino.

Nothing I can say or do, and no sentence any court could pass, can compensate for Miss Court’s death. Irrespective of the sentence I impose today, you will be able to move on with your life, while the appalling loss suffered by Miss Court’s partner, her family and her friends will endure.

That extent of that loss is evident from the measured and dignified victim impact statements provided to the court, which speak eloquently and movingly of Noor who was clearly a remarkable person who is missed terribly every day. 

The first step in sentencing is an assessment of the nature and seriousness of the offence. Two things determine the seriousness of an offence: the culpability of the offender and the harm caused, or which might have been caused, by the offence.

For the offence to which you have been convicted, the level of harm, which is that death has been caused, is part of the offence itself. The seriousness of the offence is, therefore, largely determined by your level of culpability.

I firstly recognise that you were not convicted of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving. Nevertheless, the offence you have been convicted of is one which covers driving which falls not far short of dangerous driving to driving arising from momentary inattention.

In your case, having heard the evidence presented at trial and having seen the CCTV footage, I am satisfied that your careless driving cannot be properly described as arising from momentary inattention. My assessment of the evidence is that your traffic light turned red whilst you were some distance from it; other drivers seen in the CCTV footage reacted to that red light – you did not.

Applying the sentencing guideline in respect of “Statutory offences of causing death by driving”, my assessment of the level of seriousness in this case is that it falls within Level A – that is careless or inconsiderate driving which falls not far short of dangerous driving.

As a consequence of this, again applying the guideline, the appropriate sentencing range is from a level 2 community payback order to 2 years in custody.

I then require considering the aggravating and mitigating factors present in this case. In terms of aggravating factors, there is the fact that Miss Court, as a pedestrian, was a vulnerable road user. In terms of mitigating factors, I have regard to your previous good driving record and accept that there is considerable remorse on your part.

The first matter for the court to consider is whether the custody threshold has been passed. In this case it clearly has. That is not, however, determinative of matters.

You appear before this court as a first offender. You have the benefit of two presumptions which Parliament has enacted. Those are, first, the presumption against passing a sentence of imprisonment on a person aged 21 or over who has not previously been sentenced to imprisonment or detention; and, second, the presumption against imposing a custodial sentence of under 12 months.

Having regard to these presumptions, you cannot be sent to prison unless the court considers that no other method of dealing with you is appropriate.

Ultimately, I am persuaded that there is an appropriate way of dealing with you other than by way of a custodial sentence. That there are such alternatives should not in any way be seen as detracting from the gravity of your behaviour.           

In this regard, I have regard to the fact that you offered to plead guilty to the charge of which you were ultimately convicted in August of this year.

First, I will impose a Community Payback Order upon you. A Community Payback Order is a punishment that requires you to pay back to the community for the offence that you have committed.

The Order will comprise an Unpaid Work or other activity requirement of 300 hours – the maximum the court can impose. This work must be completed within a period of 9 months from today’s date and will be carried out under the instruction of your responsible officer who will be a member of the Criminal Justice Social Work Department - that is a social worker with whom you must stay in touch.

Second, I will impose a Restriction of Liberty Order upon you. The effect of this order is that for the next 6 months you will be restricted in your freedom to go where you please. In particular, you will be restricted to remaining in your home each day from 7 pm until 7 am the following morning.

Lastly, your licence will be endorsed and you will be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 4 years.  That disqualification will run from 26 September 2024."

17 October 2024