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A second-year nursing student has been found guilty of causing the death of a 13-year-old girl by dangerous driving. In addition to her nursing studies, which included a placement at a
London hospital, Gardene De Carvalho was also working two paid full-time jobs at the time the incident took place. The 43-year-old was working night shifts in a care home and also working as
a private carer during the day. > "Her refusal to take responsibility for using the roads safely led > to the death of a young girl" > > DS Matt Smith Victoria
Carson, the teenager who was killed in the incident, was walking down Longmore Avenue in East Barnet in London on the evening of 29 June 2020 when Ms De Carvalho’s car struck her. In a
police statement released shortly after the trial took place, it stated that Ms De Carvalho had been working approximately 440 hours between 1 June 2020 and 29 June 2020. It said that during
the trial, Ms De Carvalho had said that she had “blacked out” in the moments leading up to the collision and that she “had no memory” of the actual incident. The prosecutions case was that
Ms De Carvalho “had fallen asleep due to the excessive hours she had been working”. DS Matt Smith, a member of the Metropolitan Police team investigating the case, said: “De Carvalho seemed
to feel entitled to drive around London, regardless of her fitness to be behind the wheel. "Her refusal to take responsibility for using the roads safely led to the death of a young
girl, and my thoughts and deepest sympathies remain with Victoria’s family.” Ms De Carvalho’s trial took place at Wood Green Crown Court, where she was found guilty. On Friday 17 December,
she was sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment and has been disqualified from driving for four years.