A DRINK-driver who killed an aspiring model when driving the wrong way along the M62 has been jailed for eight years.
Rebecca Caine, 20, from Birstall in, died from multiple injuries in the head-on collision between junctions 21 and 22 of the M62 in Littleborough, Greater Manchester.
Zimbabwean national Wilfred Museka, 31, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Museka, who gained political asylum after arriving in the UK in 2000, had been to a family party in Manchester.
He drank so much alcohol that he could not recall how or why he had later travelled to the border of West Yorkshire where the crash took place, the court heard.
His vehicle careered into the path of a car containing Miss Caine, who was a rear back seat passenger.
She had just returned from holiday and had visited Manchester to see a friend perform at a nightclub in the city and was on the journey home in the early hours of September 16.
Museka was arrested and found to be more than twice over the drink-drive limit.
He had never held a full driving licence and had 11 previous convictions for driving matters including driving with excess alcohol.
Judge Adrian Smith said: “This can properly be described as a flagrant disregard of the basic rules of motoring caused by a self-inflicted inability to exercise any judgement by the consumption of large amounts of alcohol.”
Tina Landale, prosecuting, said Miss Caine and three friends had spent an evening at the Printworks club in Manchester.
Museka had drunk cans of lager and rum mixed with Red Bull before he got into his Renault Megane vehicle.
His vehicle was seen on CCTV passing no entry signs on to the exit slip road to the eastbound carriageway of the M62.
One driver swerved to avoid the oncoming Museka while the driver of the Chevrolet Matiz, carrying Miss Caine, safely overtook a minibus taking 11 women to Halifax and then drove into the path of the defendant – who was travelling at “motorway speed” – with barely a second to swerve.
The near side of the Megane hit the near side of the Matiz.
Miss Caine, who was not wearing a seatbelt as she was sitting next to a drum, was thrown from the rear window of the vehicle.
The other occupants of the car received cuts and bruises.
Museka had driven one and a half miles the wrong way, the court heard.
Museka was taken to a police station and provided an alcohol reading of 178mg per 100ml of blood – the legal limit being 80mg.
She said he told officers: “I have destroyed my whole life as well as somebody else’s. I am sorry. I do not know how I got there.”
Museka, a father of two, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, driving with no licence and no insurance.
He also admitted fraud by representation in lying to his online insurers that he had held a British driving licence for more than five years.
In fact he possessed a provisional licence and had only just booked a driving test for last month.
Victim impact statements from Miss Caine’s mother, Susan, father Tim and sister Emma were submitted to the judge.
Miss Landale said: “Susan Caine says that her daughter had many plans for the future.
“She says she was starting off in her adult life and wanted me to share all her dreams and achievements.
“This has totally devastated all of my family and the many friends she had.”
