Sleep-deprived mum of sick baby is jailed for killing another diver when she fell asleep at the wheel
A MUM has been jailed after killing a grandmother when she fell asleep at the wheel of her car.
Anusha Ranganathan, 41, was tired after multiple sleepless night with her baby who had just undergone heart surgery.
She slewed across the road in East Hanney, Oxfordshire, last July, slamming into a car driven by 70-year-old Patricia Robinson who died five weeks later in hospital.
Medics described her injuries as the worst they'd ever seen.
The computer and IT technology expert admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Jailing her immediately, Judge Ian Pringle said: "When someone is driving a car and they fall asleep, it turns into a lethal weapon.
"We will never know why you drove in the way that you did, but it seems that you fell asleep behind the wheel."
DEADLY COLLISION
The judge heard that both cars ended up in a water-filled ditch.
Ranganathan's car caught fire with her baby trapped in the foot well after falling out of his baby seat.
Prosecuting at Oxford Crown Court Jonathon Stone said: "At 11.50am on July 4 there was a collision between the defendant who was driving a silver Toyota and the victim who was driving a white Nissan Duke on the A338 near East Hanney.
"The Toyota veered onto the opposite carriageway and hit the Nissan head-on, causing both vehicles to come of the road and into a muddy ditch."
Trucker Roy Lacey witnessed the crash.
He described the tragic scene of three men desperately trying to help an elderly woman escape from her car that was filling with smoke.
Nearly a year after the accident, she still has not apologised to the family
Nolan Robinson
He said: "I helped lift the car to allow two men to get the woman out. She was passed out, we were all worried."
An emotive victim statement was read by Nolan Robinson, son of Mrs Robinson, who said: "Her (Ranganathan's) recklessness has cost us a mum, grandma, sister, niece, and an aunt.
"Nearly a year after the accident, she still has not apologised to the family."
The prosecutor read the other brother's victim statement which said: "My mother suffered the most horrific injuries.
"Every bone in her body was broken and almost every organ, apart from her heart and her head, was damaged. We all went through nearly five weeks of hell."
The defence counsel moved onto read Ranganathan’s letter to the court.
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It said: "When I set out to drive with my husband and son that day, I never imagined being the reason to cause so much hurt and pain to so many people. I shall feel remorse for as long as I live."
Along with the custodial sentence, Judge Pringle disqualified Ranganathan from driving for three-and-a-half years and said that she will have to undergo an extended test before driving again.
She was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.
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