Driver jailed for death of Bexhill teenager Enrik

Johan Pema, 30, of Swafam in Norfolk, was given four years in prison and banned from driving for five years. However it is likely Pema will be released from jail in two years.

Maidstone Crown Court heard he had driven against medical advice before the accident on the A21 Pembury Road at Tonbridge early in the morning on April 4, which claimed the life of his passenger, Enrik Rrukaj, 19, of Turkey Road.

Pema had been told by a doctor not to get behind the wheel after he was knocked out in a bout.

The court heard Pema was also under a driving ban when his people carrier crashed head-on into another car.

Mr Rrukaj, a well-known young sportsman in the Bexhill and St Leonards area, died four days later. The woman driver of the other vehicle was also seriously injured.

Pema, a sports trainer, of White Oaks, Swaffham, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, having no insurance and giving a false name and address.

The accident happened after he and Mr Rrukaj had been to a boxing contest at Kingston, Surrey, with others. Pema was Mr Rrukaj’s boxing manager and the pair were heading back to Bexhill.

Prosecutor Anthony Prosser said that film of the evening showed Pema on the canvas three times after taking what a doctor described as “substantial blows” to his head. The doctor had advised him not to drive and to get himself checked out in hospital because of the risk of concussion which could take 48 hours to develop.

Mr Prosser continued: “This defendant had had a long tiring day. He had been involved in the physical exertions of the fight. He had been knocked down repeatedly and advised not to drive afterwards.”

However, he said the advice not to drive had been ignored. The crash had taken place at around 1.20am when he crashed into the other vehicle driven by Alexandra McMaster.

Mr Prosser said there was no obvious explanation for the accident.

He said Mrs McMaster recalled seeing lights and then there was a bang. She was driven off the road and was trapped for a time.

Among other things she suffered a broken right collarbone, left wrist and forearm, two ribs and a cracked vertebrae in the neck and a badly gashed leg. She was driving home after babysitting her grandchildren in Pembury on Mothers Day.

When police arrived Pema gave a false name and address in Hastings and claimed that the accident happened after a lorry he was driving behind swerved just prior to the accident.

However, Mr Prosser said it was not accepted that there had been any lorry at the scene.

Albanian-born Pema was banned from driving in 2006 and remained banned as he had not complied with a condition that he should take a new driving test.

Jailing him, Judge Michael Carroll told Pema: “Whatever sentence I pass is not designed and, indeed, cannot fill the void caused by the death of this 19-year-old man who had a promising future ahead of him.

“You should not have been driving that night. Even if it was not clear to you from advice given to you that you should not drive, you with many years experience in boxing would have known that driving some distance would create a substantial risk of danger.

“But drove you did and it was your driving alone that caused an accident that not only killed Enrik Rrukaj but caused serious injury to the other driver.”

Mr Rrukaj’s family and friends made a statement after the case: “Accidents happen in life but we think the sentence is not enough for someone without a licence or car insurance.

“We feel it is encouraging other people to drive without a licence or insurance.

“Enrik was such a lovely young boy with his future ahead of him.

“It’s terrible, terrible.”