HIT-AND-RUN VICTIM ‘LANDED 60FT FROM POINT OF COLLISION’
Jail for man whose ‘appalling driving’ in car park fractured triplet’s knee, arm and skull
AN UNINSURED driver “showing off” on a supermarket car park hit a boy and sent him flying 60ft through the air.
Jack Barter was speeding in his new Ford Fiesta outside Tesco in Baths Road, Longton, when he collided with 15-year-old Daniel Holland. Daniel was thrown onto the windscreen and landed a distance from the car. Barter, aged 20, stopped, then fled.
Daniel, a triplet, who was with his two brothers and friends, suffered fractures to his kneecap, right arm, and skull.
Now Barter has been sentenced to 30 months’ custody and banned from the roads for three years at Stoke-ontrent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Lisa Hancox said Daniel and his group went to meet another friend at Tesco at 6.30pm on October 25. At the same time, Barter was driving a car he had bought with his brother for the purpose of learning to drive. He had a front-seat passenger and two girls in the back as he drove at speed.
The girls believed he was showing off and told him to slow down.
Miss Hancox said: “His front seat passenger was changing the gears, and at one point he had to grab the steering wheel as Barter was going to hit something. He ignored their warnings.
“Most of the group on foot managed to get out the way, but Daniel was struck to his right side by the Fiesta. He went over the bonnet and collided with the windscreen. There was a second collision with the roof, which indicates the defendant did not try to brake immediately after the collision.
“Daniel landed 60 feet from the point of collision. The vehicle came to a stop further down. The defendant got out and fled the scene. He was arrested four days later.”
The court heard Daniel’s right kneecap needed surgery and a skin graft. In addition to his fractures, he also suffered a brain injury.
In a victim statement Daniel, now aged 16, said: “I had to spend my 16th birthday away from my brothers. My future could be ruined due to me not being in school.”
Barter, of Blakesley Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and driving without insurance.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said his client had no previous experience of custody until he was remanded in October, but has now served the equivalent of a 10-month sentence.
However, he conceded the offence would be met with an immediate sentence of imprisonment.
Mr Muldoon added: “We do not know the extent of the victim’s recovery. We do hope he is recovering well and ask you to accept he does show some remorse.”
Recorder John Benson QC said: “The overall impression I have is you were showing off. Your passengers asked you to slow down because they were scared. You ignored their requests and a short time later, through your inexperience and excessive speed, you struck Daniel as he was crossing one of the carriageways.
“He suffered very serious and probably life changing injuries. It was a terrible situation for Daniel and his family to be put into by your appalling driving on that night.” Barter’s driving ban was extended by 15 months.