Jailed for hit and run
DANGEROUS DRIVER LEFT INJURED STUDENT FOR DEAD
AN unlicensed and uninsured driver who struck and seriously injured a university student and drove away has been locked up.
Steven Robert James Edwards denied a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving but changed his plea on the day of his trial at Caernarfon Crown Court last month.
The 32-year-old, of Caernarfon Road, Bangor, was jailed for 22 months and banned from driving for 35 months.
He must take an extended test before being allowed back behind the wheel of a vehicle again.
Jailing him Judge Huw Rees said: “This was a blatant piece of dangerous driving. Fortunately it was less serious than in other circumstances but there are aggravating features.
“You drove at speed and your driving fell well below the standard expected.
“No sentence is appropriate other than an immediate custodial sentence.”
The court heard Edwards had driven his brother’s Audi vehicle from his home to meet a friend on December 10 and had parked in a small car park at the junction of Glynne Road and High Street, Bangor.
Prosecutor Matthew Curtis said as he prepared to leave the car park Sara Rawoot, a third year student at Bangor
University, was approaching the junction on foot.
“She stopped at the kerb and looked both ways and when satisfied the road was clear and began to cross.
“Before she reached the centre of the road she heard the loud noise of a car engine to her left and thought it was accelerating.
“She looked and saw a dark car on the wrong side of the road. It cut the corner and knocked her down and then drove off,” the barrister said.
Ms Rawoot was assisted by other members of the public and was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd where she was treated as a major trauma victim.
“She couldn’t feel her legs or move her arms and feared she was paralysed.
“Scans showed no spinal injury and feeling returned three days later but she remains an out-patient and is still in pain,” added Mr Curtis.
Police inquiries led officers to the Audi vehicle which was found to have damage and Edwards handed himself to police three days after the incident.
Mr Curtis said Edwards had previous convictions for unlicensed and uninsured driving and there were two offences of drink driving on his record from 2007 and 2012.
Defence counsel Dafydd Roberts conceded the custody threshold was crossed but urged the court to consider the alternative to jail proposed in the pre-sentence report.
“He apologises, through me, to the victim in this case,” he added.