An 18-year-old who crashed his car into a bus stop and seriously injured a four-year-old was sentenced to two years and two months in a young offenders institute.
James Doherty, 18, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Friday for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Judge Peter Blair described the teenager as an “idiot” whose “terrible driving” had led to the incident.
He was also banned from driving for four years and one month.
The court heard the teenager had arrived in England with his pregnant wife a week before the incident, had no driving licence or insurance, and purchased a BMW vehicle which had under-inflated rear tyres.
At around 2pm on 17 November, Doherty drove around a corner in the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol too fast and crashed straight into a bus stop.
A four-year-old boy who was waiting with his father and stepmother was left trapped under the vehicle, but Doherty and his wife, who was a passenger in the car, ran off from the scene.
Later that day, Doherty handed himself in at a local police station. He then pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 19 November.
During sentencing, Judge Blair said: “When you came round that corner, the rear of the vehicle that you had just acquired swung out.
“You countered that in an inappropriate way, which had you swinging the car right back across the road where there was a bus stop.”
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The court also heard that when the victim’s stepmother asked Doherty’s wife for help to lift the car off him, she replied, “no”.
“That was extraordinarily culpable and utterly cowardly, for which you should rightly feel incredible shame,” the judge added, before explaining how the boy could have died from his injuries.
“He, in fact, has survived but he has suffered terribly in terms of pain through the treatment and the therapy that is going to be required for him for years.”
Prosecuting, Kaj Scarsbrook said the boy had injuries including collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs and a spinal fracture. His stepmother also sustained injuries to her leg.
The boy’s father told the court the incident’s effect on the family has been “indescribable”, and said he and the woman injured in the crash have experienced distressing flashbacks.
His stepfather also said in court: “This tragedy has affected our entire family. Emotionally, we are broken watching our child suffer every day.”
Doherty and his wife are expecting a baby, which is due to be born in April.
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Speaking after the case, Avon and Somerset Police’s senior collision investigator David Paniccia-Brown said “we feared the boy would not survive” the collision, but “fortunately he has pulled through”.
She added: “We want to thank the family for the dignity and composure they have shown throughout this upsetting case, the pain of which both mentally and physically will not end with any court sentence.”
The officer also thanked members of the public who helped free the boy from the vehicle, saying: “It was a hugely distressing scene but they showed kindness and selflessness in a time of crisis and that should be recognised.”
