Danger driver left trio injured in horror crash
SERIAL ROAD MENACE HAS 112 PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS
A SERIAL road menace and former gun attack thug left three members of the same family seriously injured in the latest in a long line of driving offences
Time and time again, Michael Curran has shown a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and has an ‘appalling’ list of convictions for driving offences.
He also received a 15-year sentence in 2011 for being part of a gang who shot a rival.
Now the 40-year-old is back behind bars after swerving into an oncoming car in the West End of Newcastle, leaving two sisters and their mum badly hurt.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was around 11.15pm on September 6 when the collision happened on Brighton Grove, in Fenham.
Amina Begum was driving a Mazda with her sister, Shelina, in the front passenger seat and their mum, Ferdousi, in the back.
As they went round a bend, the Citroen C4 driven by Curran was coming at them at 40 to 45mph in the 30mph zone, having swerved into the wrong lane for reasons that are not clear.
After smashing into the Begums’ car, Curran fled, leaving them seriously injured and their car substantially damaged. The fire service and ambulance staff had to remove the three woman from their car.
Ferdousi suffered bleeding on the brain, a fractured thigh, broken wrist, a 15cm laceration to her knee and a 20cm laceration to her forehead and scalp.
She was taken to the high dependency unit at the RVI in Newcastle and had to have surgery to put pins in her leg. She was in hospital for nearly three weeks.
Ferdousi now has a long-term care plan, requires a walker to help her and said she feels like a burden.
She had to move her bed downstairs because she couldn’t climb the stairs and she is upset her daughters and elderly mother-in-law have to care for her and doesn’t know if she will ever fully recover.
She said in a victim impact statement: “I have been left with lifelong injuries and know I will be faced with a lifetime of battles but I know, in the end, the good always win.”
Amina suffered “numerous fractured ribs” and tenderness to her chest wall and abdomen.
She told how she was still taking regular painkillers, was unable to work for two months and said that the trauma had “destroyed their lives” and she finds it difficult travelling on roads as it reminds her of what happened.
Shelina had six fractured ribs, a fractured wrist, a small collapsed lung, a fractured big toe and bruising to her neck and chest.
Curran was identified as the driver because his DNA was recovered from the
Citroen’s airbag. The court heard he has 112 previous convictions.
These including dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking in 1995, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified in 1996, driving while disqualified in 1997, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and taking without consent in 1998, dangerous driving in 1999, driving while disqualified in 2000, 2001 and 2003, dangerous driving in 2003, driving while disqualified in 2006 and dangerous driving and driving while disqualified in 2018.
The 2018 offences also happened in the Fenham area and when his daughter was in the car. He did more than 70mph in a 30mph zone on a wet, frozen road and drove on the wrong side of the carriageway.
When a police officer tried to get in his car, he pulled away and the officer fell from the car
He also got a 15-year sentence in 2011 for wounding with intent after a rival was shot with a handgun and was jailed in March this year for two years for having a bladed article.
For the latest offending, Curran, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for 21 months.
Judge Robert Adams told him: “You have an appalling record, in particular for dangerous driving and you have demonstrated you are prepared, regularly, to ignore the rules of the road and orders of the court.
“It may be thought by some the sentence is low but I have to take into account the available sentencing powers and the nature of the driving, which was not as bad as some, although the injuries were appalling.”
Barry Robson, defending, said Curran had been locked down for 23 hours a day in prison – having been recalled on his 15-year extended sentence for breaching his licence.
He added: “He hopes to change the course of his life after serving the sentence imposed today.”