NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn woman was sentenced on Thursday for fatally striking an elderly woman with her SUV while she drove onto the sidewalk in a deliberate attempt to run over an acquaintance of hers in 2021, according to prosecutors.
Layla Adredini, 33, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after she was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder on May 23.
“Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for her shocking and depraved actions that cost an innocent woman her life,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
According to the evidence, on Aug. 24, 2021, Adredini was driving her 2003 white Ford Explorer near 2185 Pacific St. in Ocean Hill.
She deliberately drove up onto the sidewalk while trying to crash into a 50-year-old male acquaintance, but missed her target and hit 70-year-old Brenda Lee Whidbee instead as she sat in a chair outside her home.
Adredini, of Stuyvesant Heights, tried to flee the scene on foot, but was stopped by neighborhood residents.
Whidbee, a grandmother and fixture of the Ocean Hill community for 40 years, suffered severe injuries. She was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center.
“While nothing can bring Brenda Ann Whidbee back to her family and friends, I hope this sentence offers them some sense of solace,” Gonzalez said.