Taxi driver who killed young student who was "a credit to her family" is banned from the roads for 15 months

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A taxi driver who tragically killed a young student has narrowly avoided jail and been told he must now “benefit the community”.Steven Clifford Cohen, of Speirs Road, Johnstone, admitted that he caused the death of Astrid Yeates by running her over.Procurator fiscal Harry Finlay previously told the court that Astrid was making her way to a bus stop to head to Strathclyde University when she hit by 58-year-old Cohen’s car on the A77 in Giffnock.Earlier today in court he was ordered to do 130 hours of unpaid work and was disqualified from driving for 15 months.His lawyer said: "He can not explain why he did not see Miss Yeates until his car collided with her.“He accepts failing to see her and that he’s deprived her of her life."Cohen - who been a taxi driver for eight years and held his driving licence since he was 17 - kept his licence over the festive period.Mr Finlay explained: “The deceased had stayed the night previously with her family.“On the day of the collision Ms Yeates was due to give a visual presentation on the scholarship programme at Strathclyde University.“She was a Masters student at this university.“She and her mum had intended on travelling together on the number 38 bus in to Glasgow.“Ms Yeates was organised, she had left out her clothes the night before and her mum made her breakfast that morning before she left for the bus around 7.27am.“Her mum left the house shortly after.”Tragically, that was the last time Mrs Yeates made her daughter breakfast because when she made her way across the street to the bus stop Cohen’s silver Skoda Octavia collided with the 21-year-old sending her “upwards and forwards” over the car.Mr Finlay added: “The accused is unable to say why the collision had occurred and he was