A drug dealer who crashed into a London bus, killing its driver and injuring 14 passengers, has been jailed.
Dorjan Cera, an asylum seeker from Albania, sped over a junction and struck the single-decker shortly after 10pm on October 31 last year.
Driver Kenneth Matcham, 60, was “ejected” from the vehicle after the impact caused it to crash into another bus travelling in the opposite direction in Orpington, south-east London.
Cera, 20, had no insurance or licence at the time, and was driving a black Skoda Octavia he had hired using false documents, the Old Bailey heard on Thursday.
Prosecutor Nathan Rasiah said the case involved an “appalling piece of driving”, which had “catastrophic consequences”.
Orpington Bus Crash - In pictures
He said: “The defendant drove his car at speed across a junction with a main road and collided with a bus.
“The impact of the collision forced the bus into the wrong lane, causing it to collide with another bus travelling in the opposite direction.
“Mr Kenneth Matcham, the driver of the first bus, was ejected from the vehicle as a result of the collision and died from his injuries, and a number of the passengers suffered serious injuries.”
Cera, who remained emotionless in the dock, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in detention and banned from holding a driving licence for 11 years and four months.
In June, he pleaded guilty to causing Mr Matcham’s death by dangerous driving.
He also admitted seven further counts of causing injury by dangerous driving, being unlicensed and uninsured, and possession of an identity document with improper intent.
Grandfather-of-seven Mr Matcham had been driving the R11 service which was carrying six passengers when his vehicle was hit.
CCTV footage of the incident showed Cera’s car failing to stop at the junction before smashing into the front nearside of the bus.
Seven people suffered “serious” injuries, including passenger Paul Wassell, who broke his spine in “three or four places” when he was “ejected” from the bus, the court heard.
The impact caused the vehicle to hit another single-decker bus, which was travelling along Sevenoaks Road, causing injuries to some of its passengers.
Cera, whose car also hit the second bus, was found in the driver’s seat, with the airbags deployed, by a firefighter.
After regaining consciousness, he “identified himself falsely” to police officers, Mr Rasiah said.
He tested positive for cocaine during a roadside drugs wipe test, but a subsequent blood test was negative, the court heard.
Cera was on licence at the time of the crash, having been sentenced to two years in detention in September 2018 for possession with intent to supply class A drugs, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and without insurance, and possession of false identity documents, the court was told.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Matcham’s daughter, Shelley Gardner, described her father as “the most amazing man you could have ever met”.
She said: “He was always my hero. I feel so privileged to have been part of his life.”
Paramjit Ahluwalia, mitigating, said Cera had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and depressive episodes following the crash.
She said: “There is an evident level of remorse by this 20-year-old. He expressed ‘Every day I’m here in the prison, I am reminded of what I have done and I think about it every day.”
The court heard that Cera had arrived in the UK from Albania at the age of 15 and had his application for asylum rejected in February this year.