Driver who crashed into boy, four, at bus stop sentenced to two years in detention

A driver who crashed his car into a bus stop, seriously injuring a four-year-old boy, has been sentenced to two years and two months in detention.

James Doherty, 18, who had no driving licence or insurance, purchased the BMW vehicle which had underinflated rear tyres shortly before the incident.

Bristol Crown Court heard Doherty drove round a corner in the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol too fast at about 2pm on November 17 last year.

Doherty’s car crashed straight into a bus stop where a four-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was waiting with his father and stepmother.

The boy 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 and he pleaded guilty to a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Bristol Magistrates’ Court.

Judge Peter Blair, the Recorder of Bristol, described Doherty as an “idiot” who had exhibited “terrible driving” during the incident.

The judge sentenced Doherty to two years and two months in a young offenders institute and banned him from driving for four years and one month.

He told Doherty: “On Sunday November 17, a very short while after you had arrived in England with your wife, you used some savings and family help to purchase yourselves a motor car.

“You picked it up that Sunday morning. Within a very short time with it being in your ownership, you drove at a speed that was totally inappropriate for the conditions. Your wife, who is pregnant, was in that vehicle with you.

“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.”

The judge described how the boy had been sitting at the bus stop with his stepmother, with his father nearby, and they were both struck by the car.

After the crash, the boy’s stepmother asked Doherty’s wife for help to lift the car off him but she replied “no” and the pair ran off.

Judge Blair said: “That was extraordinarily culpable and utterly cowardly, for which you should rightly feel incredible shame.”

He described how the boy had been left with “terrible injuries” and it was initially feared he would not survive the incident.

“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,” the judge said.

Prosecuting, Kaj Scarsbrook played the court CCTV footage which showed the BMW crashing into the bus stop and Doherty fleeing the scene with his wife as members of the public ran to help.

Mr Scarsbrook said the victim’s stepmother sustained injuries to her leg, while the boy had injuries including collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs and a spinal fracture.

Doherty had traces of cannabis in his system when he was arrested after handing himself in, Mr Scarsbrook said.

The prosecuting barrister read victim personal statements from the boy’s stepmother and father, while the boy’s stepfather read a statement on behalf of himself and the boy’s mother.

His stepfather told the court: “This tragedy has affected our entire family. Emotionally, we are broken watching our child suffer every day.”

Doherty’s barrister said his client, who is from the Irish traveller community, had moved to England with his wife just one week before the incident.

The couple are now expecting a baby, which is due to be born in April.