Man guilty of causing mum and girl’s deaths by dangerous driving

A driver who raced another man who fatally struck a mum and her four-year-old daughter has been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Justyna Hulboj, 27, and her daughter Lena Czepczor were killed when they were hit by an Audi TT RS as they walked to the girl’s nursery in Leeds on 16 January 2023.

Jasskamal Riyat, who was driving a BMW1 Series closely behind when the fatal crash happened, had denied racing the Audi’s driver, Hardeep Bhachu, who previously admitted causing both their deaths.

But a jury convicted the 37-year-old of the same offences on Friday after a week-long trial at Leeds Crown Court. Both men will be sentenced on 26 October.

Prosecutors had earlier told the trial that Riyat had travelled down the road, which has a 40mph road limit, at 89mph shortly before the crash.

Riyat was also said to have been holding his phone and recording Bhachu as he set off from some traffic lights, telling the video: “Watch this guy let it off.”

The pair, who were not known to each other, had earlier wound down their windows to have a conversation at a set of traffic lights, the court was told.