"The car hit her, throwing her and her daughter in the air."
Bellal Ahmad, aged 29, of Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for 26 months for his involvement in a collision involving a pregnant teenager and her daughter. The boy racer had been racing against another car.
He was driving an Audi A7 and was racing a Volkswagen Jetta through Hanley and Cobridge.
Ben Lawrence, prosecuting, said the incident happened at 8:30 pm on August 15, 2017.
He told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court: “Two vehicles were racing at high speeds in residential streets. Ahmad was driving one of the vehicles. The other vehicle struck a pregnant lady carrying an infant, causing her serious injury and injuring her child.
“The woman was crossing Waterloo Road near the junction with Hawthorn Street, in Cobridge, and was holding her one-year-old daughter.
“As she was crossing, a vehicle came from the right at high speed. It changed lanes and moved on the wrong side of the road. The car hit her, throwing her and her daughter in the air.”
Ahmad had swerved to miss the two victims but the Jetta struck them.
The woman suffered a fractured pelvis, ankle, and eye socket and had internal bleeding. Her child suffered a cut to her head, bruising to her chest and forearm, grazes to her left cheek and blood loss.
The woman spent nine days in hospital while her daughter spent a week in hospital.
In a victim impact statement, the victim said she suffered memory loss and did not know who her partner or daughter were.
Her partner had to take time off work to look after them and it caused financial difficulties. The accident happened near their home and it was troubling to return to the scene.
She gave birth to her second child in January 2018 and there were some medical difficulties which she fears were a result of the collision.
The two cars had travelled from Broad Street, Hanley, to Waterloo Road.
CCTV showed the Audi straddle the centre line and the Jetta approached on the wrong side of the road and collided with the victim.
The Audi had been travelling at 76.4mph.
Witnesses said the cars travelled “ridiculously fast” and described how other vehicles had to take evasive action.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The court heard the driver of the Jetta could ‘not be identified to the criminal standard’.
In mitigation, Daniel Prowse said it was a “very poor piece of dangerous driving”. However, he said there were more serious examples of its type.
He added: “It was his driving and racing that contributed towards the collision.”
Judge David Fletcher told the boy racer: “You were racing the other person in a VW Jetta.
“The nature of the dangerous driving is best described as racing, at speeds in excess of 70mph, going through a red light, weaving across the road trying to spot an opportunity for one to pass the other.
“There were many people going about their business. One was a young woman, with her one-year-old daughter, who was crossing the road. She was almost hit by you.
“You swerved and then she was hit by the Jetta and thrown in the air.”
“Amazingly, although she and her girl sustained serious injuries, she did not lose her life and neither did her daughter.
“Not long after the incident her child was born, it appears with little or no effect on that baby.
“After the incident occurred, and you became aware what had happened, you drove away with the Jetta and laid low for a while.
“There was an attempt by another person to take the blame. That did not work and resulted in him receiving a custodial sentence.”
Ahmad was jailed for 26 months. He was also banned from driving for two years and until he passes an extended re-test. The ban will start upon his release.
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