Killers who refuse to appear in UK courts for sentencing should face longer jail terms, the mother of a student who died in a hit-and-run crash has told The News Movement.
Mandy Garner’s daughter Anisha Vidal-Garner was just 20 years old when she was killed in Brixton, south London. She was walking home from a night out when she was hit by a car.
The driver who killed Anisha repeatedly refused to appear in court, and was released from prison this week after having served just half of his seven-year sentence.
This issue has been in the news again recently after Lucy Letby, a nurse who murdered seven babies and attempted to murder at least six more, also refused to attend her sentencing.
Judges currently have no legal power to make people convicted of crimes appear for sentencing, where families are given the chance to make “victim impact statements”.
The statements explain how the crimes affect the lives of the victims and their families. Mandy, 57, has been calling for a law change since Anisha’s killer, Quincy Anyiam, failed to appear in 2020 and hear her read a statement about the impact of the death.
“It felt like nobody cared because for me that was part of his sentence. A large part of his sentence was to know who she was and what impact it had had on all of our family.
“I would like to see changes in the law to make it possible - I can’t even believe I’m saying that - for families of people who’ve been killed to read the impact that has had on them to the defendant.
There are now plans to give judges the power to order offenders to appear in court but Mandy wants clear rules that punish refusal to appear in person with longer sentences.
“From what I’ve read they seem to favour this idea of piping the sentence into the prison cell. I don’t know if that’s by video or audio but I am worried that doing that would almost normalise people not turning up.
“What incentive is there for anybody to actually go to their sentencing? I would like to see them look at alternatives like increasing sentences.
“I know that wouldn’t work with Lucy Letby but most cases won’t be [whole] life sentences.”
Anisha was in her first year at King’s College in London studying Philosophy and Spanish when she was run over and killed by Anyiam, who was trying to get away from the police. She was 20 years old and on a night out with her boyfriend and a friend.
“She was crossing the road…and he came out of nowhere,” Mandy said in an emotional interview. “I’ve seen the footage now. She freezes and he turns towards her. She was thrown right up into the air.”
Mandy said that she was concerned that a change in the law might mean it actually became easier for killers to deny families their moment in court.
She said proposals to make offenders who stay in their cells watch the hearing on a videolink risked encouraging them not to come to court.
“I was told by the family liaison officer that we could make an impact statement or we
Anyiam, the son of a human rights barrister, dumped the car and escaped on foot before handing himself in 48 hours later.
The delay meant he could not be checked for alcohol and drugs in his system.
Mandy continues to push for a change in the law, which is expected to come later this year.