A US servicewoman has avoided jail after a crash that killed a married couple from North London. Jasmine Dessaure, 37, was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday to 12 months in custody, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving.
The crash occurred on April 15 2023, in Suffolk, when Dessaure lost control of her car following a lapse of concentration of “just under two seconds,” leading to a near head-on collision. Dilipan Sebastiampillai, 43, and his 41-year-old wife Dorota, from the London Borough of Haringey, both died in the incident. Suffolk Police confirmed that both vehicles left the carriageway and the Nissan Note caught fire.
Details of the collision
Dessaure, of Brandon, and based at RAF Mildenhall, was driving a Jeep Cherokee on a single-carriageway road in the direction of Elveden, while the Nissan Note was travelling in the opposite direction. Mark Tomassi, prosecuting, said the crash happened at around 5.30pm and that there had been “deterioration on the road edge as the road edge meets the grass verge.”
He described a “yawing of the vehicle from one side to the other,” moving across the carriageway following “overcorrection.” Tomassi stated: “There was a failure to drive to the appropriate standard because of a momentary lapse of concentration that would have lasted just under two seconds.” Dessaure had been driving at approximately 40mph, “well within the 60mph limit,” when she lost control.
Court proceedings and sentence
The collision caused “massive damage and trauma to both vehicles but particularly to the occupants of the vehicle that was struck, leading… to catastrophic injury and death.” Tomassi noted that the “lapse of attention wasn’t aggravated by any other circumstances.” He added: “In cases like this there are no winners, only losers.” The barrister confirmed that the family of the deceased “do not want the prosecution to read out victim personal statements.”
Ali Bajwa KC, mitigating, said the defendant wanted to express “how sorry she was for what’s happened as a result of her driving failure.” He explained that Dessaure initially believed she hit a pothole, but “her tyre left the road and entered a trench.”
Judge's remarks and impact
Judge Sean Enright, sparing Dessaure jail, said: “It’s an enormous tragedy. Nothing I can say will make anything any better for anyone.” He noted that Dessaure and others “attempted to assist the occupants of the other vehicle but were unable to get them out.” In addition to the suspended sentence, Dessaure received an 18-month driving ban and was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work. The case highlights the devastating consequences of momentary distraction behind the wheel, with the judge emphasising the tragedy for all involved.
