Pharmacist spared prison over teenager’s death in crash

A 67-year-old pharmacist who drove into a motorbike, killing the teenage rider, was spared prison today (Wednesday 21 January).

Jagjeet Gujral swerved into the path of former BHASVIC student Charlie Chandler, 18, causing injuries that proved impossible to survive.

Gujral initially denied a charge of causing death by careless driving but changed his plea in November, with a trial due to start next month.

Members of Charlie’s family spoke about their grief this morning before Gujral was sentenced by Judge Emma Nott at Oxford Crown Court.

Judge Nott praised Charlie’s family for their dignity amid the pain of their loss and said that no sentence could reflect or lessen that pain.

She also quoted a pre-sentence report saying: “This was a single catastrophic lapse in judgment rather than a pattern of poor behaviour.”

The judge imposed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered Gujral to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He was banned from the road for two years and told that he would not be allowed back behind the wheel until he was deemed medically fit and had passed an extended driving test.

Julian Lynch, prosecuting, set out how the crash happened in Cuckfield Road, Burgess Hill, just after 9.30pm on Tuesday 30 August 2022.

Gujral, who was the landlord of a shared house in Moulsecoomb as well as a pharmacist, was driving a silver Volkswagen Polo south along Cuckfield Road, near Ansty. Charlie was riding his Honda northbound, heading to his mother’s.

Mr Lynch said: “It was dark and there is no street lighting on that stretch of road.”

A Ford Transit van, driven by Aaron Coomber, was waiting to leave a driveway and join the road on Mr Gujral’s side of the road.

Mr Lynch said that Mr Coomber’s van was a little way back as he prepared to move off the drive and turn on to the road.

He said: “There were hedgerows running along the side of the road and up to the driveway such as to obscure the van’s position until Mr Gujral was relatively close, albeit it never entered the carriageway or provided any obstruction to Mr Gujral.”

He said that as Gujral approached where the van was waiting, he “drifted” on to the other side of the road and hit the motorbike head on, adding: “There was no braking before the collision by either vehicle.

“Mr Chandler sustained catastrophic injuries and died a few days later.

“Mr Gujral had been making a call earlier in the drive, using a Bluetooth headset, but this seems to have ended by the time of the collision.”

Charlie had no alcohol in his system, the court was told. Gujral, who told police that he had had a can of beer earlier, had 22 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Mr Lynch added: “There is no definitive explanation for why Mr Gujral left his carriageway.

“But the most likely explanation appears to be that he misjudged Mr Coomber’s position, took unnecessary evasive action and failed to see that Mr Chandler was approaching.

Devastating

Charlie’s mother, Emma Dunkin, told the court: “The loss of my son has been absolutely devastating.”

Mrs Dunkin said that he had just achieved brilliant A level results and won a place at university to study business. He was preparing to work during a gap year so that he could pay to go travelling.

When she became aware of the crash, she went to the scene but the ambulance had just left for the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton.

Charlie spent five days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and, while he was there, a consultant warned Mrs Dunkin that her son was unlikely to survive.

She said: “My whole world fell apart. Charlie’s friends recorded messages of love and support and we played these to him.”

He died with his parents and his sister Alice at his bedside in the Royal Sussex on Sunday 4 September.

Mrs Dunkin said: “It was utterly horrendous … I wanted to die. I wanted to be wherever he was. I couldn’t bear carrying on without him. I never for one minute dreamed of outliving one of my children.”

She said that “the boy whose future was so cruelly taken from him that night” was popular, hard-working, independent-thinking and determined, adding: “He was an adored son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend.

“The hole that he has left in all our lives is immeasurable. Life will never be the same without him.”

Charlie’s father Kevin Chandler said: “Charlie’s death has been totally devastating. It affects my life every single day.”

Mr Chandler said that his own health had suffered as a result, adding: “I find it almost impossible to describe the emotional impact of losing a child.”

More than 200 people attended a celebration of Charlie’s life and Mr Chandler said: “Charlie was well loved and is missed by a lot of people. Not a day goes by that I do not miss and think of Charlie.”

Charlie’s brother Henry said: “The death of my brother has affected me massively. He was the best brother I could possible have had. There was never a boring moment when he was around.”

Henry, who was 12 at the time of the crash, said that Charlie was a role model who had made him a better person and added: “He was taken away in the blink of an eye … He will forever be missed.”

Alex Stein, defending, said that it was an incredibly sad case. He said: “Mr Gujral offers his sincerest apologies to Mr Chandler’s family for the hole that he has caused and the lifelong difficulties that he has caused their family.”

Mr Stein said that the consequences would affect the defendant too for the rest of his life, adding: “He certainly didn’t set out that day to hurt anybody.”

Gujral initially entered a not guilty plea in the “entirely mistaken but sincerely held belief” that he was on the correct side of the road when the crash happened, Mr Stein said.

His client felt guilt, genuine and heartfelt remorse and profound sorrow and Mr Stein added: “This was a single misjudgment.”

Gujral, of Brighton Road, Hurstpierpoint, was a man of previous good character, with a good driving record for almost 50 years. He presented a low risk of reoffending and had strong personal mitigation.

Mr Stein asked the judge to consider a suspended prison sentence rather thn immediate custody.

He said that the hedgerow was overgrown at the time and, while that wasn’t said to try to blame anyone else, the landowner was ordered to cut back hedge almost immediately after the crash.

The judge said: “Questioned at the scene, you … state that the motorcycle had ‘run into’ you although you accepted that you did not need to leave your lane to avoid the van.

“I do not regard (your) accounts as deliberately misleading. They reflect the confusion and trauma that often accompany a sudden, split-second and catastrophic collision.”

The family’s testimony, the judge said, “capture the immeasurable loss of a young man who was vibrant, gifted, hardworking and deeply loved.

“No sentence I pass can reflect the extent of the loss suffered by Charlie’s family, nor the depth of their grief which is profound and lifelong and which they have articulated this morning with courage and dignity.”

Judge Nott said: “The offence of causing death by careless driving addresses these terrible, tragic cases where comparatively low culpability – a lapse in attention, an unsafe manoeuvre or a momentary error – results in the greatest possible harm: the loss of life.

“No sentence can properly reflect the harm inherent in the offence … even brief carelessness behind the wheel can have irreversible and devastating consequences – lifelong consequences for those left behind.”