LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) – British rapper Ghetts was jailed for 12 years on Tuesday for killing a Nepali student in a hit-and-run while driving dangerously and over the drink-drive limit.
The award-winning artist, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, pleaded guilty in December to causing the death of 20-year-old Yubin Tamang in north London last year.
Clarke-Samuel, 41, also admitted an additional charge of driving his BMW M5 dangerously before the fatal incident.
Ghetts was nominated for the 2024 Mercury Prize for his fourth studio album “On Purpose, with Purpose” and won best male act at Britain’s MOBO Awards in 2021. The rapper has also collaborated with high-profile artists, including Ed Sheeran.
Clarke-Samuel sat in the dock at London’s Old Bailey as prosecutor Philip McGhee said he had been drinking before driving home dangerously, running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road.
He was driving at nearly 70 miles per hour (112.7 km per hour) when he hit Tamang, causing catastrophic injuries and severe damage to the windscreen, but Clarke-Samuel did not stop and drove eight miles home, McGhee added.
Tamang’s mother Sharmila Tamang tearfully read a statement to the court through a translator, which said: “My son had come to this place to study. But because of someone else’s fault, he was killed at such a young age.”
Clarke-Samuel’s lawyer Benjamin Aina said Clarke-Samuel had believed he was being followed, having previously been robbed at gunpoint, and was remorseful for his actions.
Aina read out a letter written by Clarke-Samuel, which read: “I am fully aware that there are no number of apologies that I can say which will stop the pain that the family and friends of Mr Tamang must feel.
“This young man and his family are in my thoughts daily. I cannot express the enormous feeling of guilt and shame I feel for the suffering I have caused.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sarah Young, William James and Sharon Singleton)
