Driver who killed friend in crash after 80mph police chase jailed for eight years
A young woman who killed her friend when she crashed at the end of an 80mph police chase has been jailed for eight years.
India Thompson, 20, was showing off as she drove five passengers home from a birthday party, and sped away from police after being spotted making an “ill-considered” overtaking manouevre at speed.
After a chase at speeds of up to 83mph, Thompson hit a bump in the road, crashed the Vauxhall Astra into a lamppost, and flipped the vehicle. She was thrown from the car as it was engulfed in flames.
Passenger Shaunta Rhoden, 19, died from a head injury sustained in the crash on March 28 last year, while 18-year-old Kumarah Cyrus was badly hurt but survived.
At the Old Bailey on Friday, Thompson was jailed for eight years as it was revealed her friends had been pleading with her to pull over in the moments before the fatal crash.
“Everyone was screaming at the defendant to stop”, said Ms Cyrus, in a victim statement read to the court.
“Shaunta was screaming and shouting ‘stop’. The defendant said ‘I will get you out of this’.”
Ms Cyrus said she blacked out in the crash and when she came to felt pain everywhere in her body.
“If only India had listened to us that night and stopped, I would not have to say how I feel and would not be in this situation,” she said.
Ms Rhoden’s sister Sacha tearfully described how her younger sibling was the “glue” of the family and carer to their father.
In a statement, her father Norman Rhoden said: “On March March 28, 2021, one of my most precious gifts was taken away from me. At 19 years old her life had just begun.
“Not only did you kill my daughter, you gave myself, her siblings, family and friends a whole life sentence.”
Thompson, from Enfield, north London, admitted causing the death of Ms Rhoden as well as causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Calling her “self-regarding” and “indifferent”, Judge John Hillen sentenced Thompson to eight years in prison and banned her from driving for more than 12 years.
“You gave no thought to the safety of your passengers, let alone the general public”, he said.
“Your friends were telling you to stop. You ignored them.”
Prosecutor Amy Nicholson said the crash happened in Streatham at just before 4.30am, when Thomspon, who had no licence or insurance, “lost control of a Vauxhall Astra”.
“The vehicle was driving dangerously on Greyhound Lane”, she said. “She was carrying five passengers so the vehicle was overloaded. The vehicle was on false cloned plates.
“It collided with a lamppost and flipped onto its rood, coming to rest in the garden of a property on Greyhound Lane having also collided and damaged a parked car, garden wall and ground floor of the property itself.
“A resident described the aftermath as total chaos and likened it as if a bomb had detonated.”
Ms Rhoden, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was pulled from the burning wreckage unconscious. She was bleeding from a fatal head injury and never recovered consciousness.
Ms Cyrus sustained spinal, pelvic and orbital fractures and was unable to walk for months afterwards.
Just over a minute before the crash, Thompson’s vehicle had come to the attention of a police patrol on Streatham Common North, when officers spotted her bad driving and activiated a pursuit when she failed to stop.
Mitigating, Carol Anne Hawley said: “Ms Thompson is truly sorry and truly remorseful for the senseless and reckless behaviour that day.”
She said Thompson had been given the car keys by a male friend who was going to drive her to the party but was too drunk.
Ms Hawley suggested the “thrill” of having a car prompted her to “show off” to her friends.
