Double-decker bus driver admits killing nine-year-old girl after ploughing into her while high on drugs
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A bus driver has admitted to killing a nine-year-old girl in a horror crash while under the influence of drugs.
Martin Asolo-Agogua, 23, had been up all night at a social event when he crashed the double-decker bus into Ada Bicakci and her five-year-old brother.
The tragic crash occurred at around 9.05am on August 3, 2024, Watling Street in Bexleyheath, southeast London, a court heard.
The siblings, who were with a family member at the time, were immediately taken to hospital where Ada, a Turkish and British national who was a 'keen gymnast and swimmer, died two days later.
Asolo-Agogua, from Nunhead, London, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drugs (cannabis).
During a brief hearing at Woolwich Crown Court today, Judge Ben Gumpert KC warned him that he faces the certainty of prison time.
The judge said: 'Looking at the sentencing guidelines, whether this is in the highest or middle level of culpability, even if that decision went in favour of the defendant the starting point would be a sentence of six years in prison.
'And there are, it seems to me, considerable aggravating features because he was driving a bus, under the influence of cannabis, and that he hadn't slept the night before having been, as I understand it, at a social event.'
Asolo-Agogua, who was arrested on the day of the incident, was granted bail until he is sentenced in June.
Judge Gumpert added: 'You have pleaded guilty to a very serious offence which has resulted in a young child losing her life. The circumstances of this offence are such that in my view it is inevitable that you will be sent immediately to prison.'
Following the tragedy, a GoFundMe page was launched to provide support to the police and ambulance service who had helped the nine-year-old, with more than £14,000 accumulated in donations.
The family also donated her organs to other children, with her parents receiving a commendation from Anthony Clarkson, the Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation.
A statement on behalf of the Bacakci family, shared on the fundraising page, read: 'We have been hit and shattered into pieces, one became six, living in new places.
'Thanks are not enough to show our gratitude. We'll honour Ada with acts of magnitude.
'The funds will support those who helped us through, from emergency services to our hospital too. We lost count of who soaked us in love.'
In a previous statement made following a short hearing in March to set a plea date at Bromley Magistrates' Court, the family expressed their gratitude for the large sum of donations received.
They said: 'Thanks are not enough to show our gratitude.
'The funds will support those who helped us through, from the emergency services to our hospital too.'
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