Dangerous driver who killed teenager sentenced

Sophie Geddes was 16 at the time of her death

A man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for killing a teenager with his car in Glasgow.

Flojan Dajti, 33, hit 16-year-old Sophie Geddes as she crossed Great Western Road on 5 December 2020.

Dajti was sentenced to five years and four months after he earlier pleaded guilty to death by dangerous driving. He was also banned from driving for 11 years and 8 months.

Dajti was delivering food to a shop and driving at an "excessive" speed when he hit Miss Geddes.

Dajti, originally from Albania, had only been living in Scotland for a year before he killed Miss Geddes.

He held a full driving licence from Albania, which was only valid for 12 months in the UK, but it had expired weeks before he hit Miss Geddes.

The married, father-of-one was sentenced at the High Court in Stirling.

At an earlier hearing, he was described as "hammering" down the road in his Ford Focus.

After he hit Miss Geddes, the warehouseman, from the Scotstoun area of Glasgow, struck another car, which left the driver unconscious.

The court heard Dajti failed to notice Miss Geddes, who had been on the road for more than 4 seconds when she was hit. He failed to brake, take other evasive action or sound his horn.

The court estimated that he was driving well above the 30mph speed limit, driving anywhere between 37-50mph at the time, but that was an "underestimate" the court heard.

Dajti "could not explain" why he had not seen Miss Geddes

Miss Geddes, from the Knightswood area of Glasgow, was crossing Great Western Road near Garscadden Road South to meet a friend when she was struck by Dajti's car.

She suffered multiple fractures to her skull and pelvis and was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where she died from her injuries the next morning.

Her parents, Stephen and Paula, attended the sentencing with Miss Geddes' younger sister Ruby.

A large number of her friends also packed the public benches of the courtroom.

Judge Simon Collins KC said: "It was dark but driving conditions and the street lighting was good. He should have seen her and should have avoided her."

Dajti's lawyer Jim Keegan KC said his client, who wept in the dock, "could not explain" why he didn't see her.

Rosemary Martin , the headmistress at Notre Dame High School, where Miss Geddes was a pupil, described her as "bright, caring, loving and went out her way to help others".