Mother and Four-Year-Old Daughter Killed on Walk to School as Two Drivers Face Prison After High-Speed Race

Hardeep Bhachu lost control of his Audi TT RS and struck Justyna Hulboj and daughter Lena Czepczor (Image: SWNS/Family handout)

L-R: Hardeep Bhachu, 29, and Jasskamal Riyat, 37, face jail (Image: SWNS/West Yorkshire Police)

A mother and her four-year-old daughter were simply making their way to school when their ordinary morning journey ended in tragedy.

Justyna Hulboj, 27, and her daughter Lena Czepczor, four, were walking along Scott Hall Road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, shortly after 8.30am on January 16, 2023, when they were struck by an Audi TT RS travelling at almost 90mph.

The driver, Hardeep Bhachu, 29, had lost control after the Audi hit a kerb and veered onto the pavement near a Jaguar dealership.

Bhachu had already admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

But the case took an even more serious turn after prosecutors argued that another driver had played a role in the fatal incident.

Hardeep Bhachu lost control of his Audi TT RS (Image: SWNS)

Jasskamal Riyat, 37, was driving a BMW M135i moments before the crash. Although his car did not strike Justyna or Lena, a jury at Leeds Crown Court unanimously found him guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving on Friday, August 28.

The verdict followed a five-day trial in which prosecutors presented dashcam and mobile phone footage showing the two men driving alongside one another shortly before the collision.

The footage showed Bhachu and Riyat stopping side-by-side at traffic lights and talking through their open windows about the performance of their cars.

Their conversation was captured on both Riyat’s phone and Bhachu’s dashcam.

Prosecutors argued that Riyat was encouraging Bhachu, with the pair then setting off from the lights in what witnesses described as an obvious race.

Riyat pulled away first, followed by Bhachu, who accelerated after him.

Independent witnesses told the court that the two cars were “obviously racing”.

As Bhachu eventually accelerated away from the BMW, Riyat could be heard laughing in footage recorded on his phone.

He said: “Watch this guy let it off. He is gone.”

Seconds later, Bhachu lost control of the Audi.

The vehicle struck the kerb before leaving the road and entering the pavement where Justyna and Lena were walking.

The mother and daughter were killed in the collision.

Det Insp Paul Conroy of West Yorkshire Police described the incident as an “absolutely horrifying collision” that had shocked even experienced collision investigators.

He said Justyna and Lena had been completely innocent and were simply on their way to school.

Riyat, from Buckstone Avenue in Moortown, Leeds, continued filming the wrecked Audi as he drove past the scene before carrying on to work.

He did not call emergency services and was later arrested.

During his trial, Riyat accepted that he had been speeding but denied that he had been racing or driving dangerously. He also argued that he could not be held responsible for Bhachu’s actions.

The jury rejected his account.

Bhachu, of Grant Row, Adel, Leeds, had already pleaded guilty to the same two offences. He asked to remain in custody, saying he wanted to “take responsibility” and “begin serving the inevitable sentence”.

Following Friday’s guilty verdict, Riyat was granted bail.

He is due to return to court on October 26, where he will face sentencing alongside Bhachu.

The court warned Riyat that a lengthy prison sentence was “inevitable”.

For Justyna and Lena’s family, the case has brought a painful legal conclusion to a tragedy that began with what should have been an ordinary walk to school.

Two drivers are now awaiting their sentences over a crash that claimed the lives of a mother and her young daughter.