The victim was left with life-changing injuries after the incident which happened after a Swansea City v Cardiff City match
A teenager deliberately drove into a group of people leaving one of them with life-changing injuries, a court has heard. Mitchel Jones then drove away leaving his victim gravely injured on the ground and fearing he was going to die.
The man Jones knocked down, a 20-year-old Swansea City fan, suffered a bleed on the brain and had to have an operation to remove part of his skull to relieve pressure on the brain. Sending the defendant down, the judge told him he had effectively used his car as a dangerous weapon.
Emily Bennett, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on March 16 last year the complainant in the case watched a Swansea City vs Cardiff City game with friends before the group visited a number of pubs, ending up that evening in the Gatehouse pub near Cwmbwrla roundabout.
She said at around 11pm the friends left the bar and walked the short distance to Approach Road to get a taxi to Uplands to continue their night out. Also on Approach Road at that time was the defendant Jones in his VW Polo car. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter
The court heard there had previously been issues between Jones and a member of the group and Ms Bennett said the defendant was seen driving his car “aggressively” up and down the road, mounting the pavement, revving the car engine, and trying to “intimidate” the Swans fans. In response, a glass bottle was thrown at the car and items such as bin bags were tossed into the street to block his way. The court heard the incident came to a head when Jones swerved across the road and drove into a 20-year-old member of the group and knocked him down. He then sped off.
The prosecutor said police and paramedics were called and the complainant was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where medics found he had a fractured skull and bleeds on the brain along with fractures to an arm and shoulder and a dislocated elbow. The injured man had to undergo an operation to remove part of the skull bone to release the pressure on the brain, and also required surgery to fit a metal plate in his arm. The casualty has since lost his hearing in one ear.
The prosecutor said the then 17-year-old defendant was arrested the following day at home in Morriston and his car was seized and forensically examined. He initially denied intending to drive into anyone.
The prosecutor said the victim in the case can remember nothing of the day in question after leaving the Swans match.
In an impact statement which was read to the court the victim said prior to being run over he had been working hard, playing football, going out socialising and making plans with his partner, and that “life was good”. But he said all that changed in a moment when his hopes and dreams were “shattered”. The victim said the defendant had left him to die at the roadside and had shown no remorse for what he had done. The man said he was grateful to the medical staff at the Heath hospital and to his friends and family for all their support.
The court also heard a statement from the victim’s mother which she read to the court in person. She said when she received a phone call from her younger son telling her something had happened she imaged “at worst” a couple of broken bones and a trip to A&E but she said she could not have imagined the scene that confronted her in Cwmbwrla.
She said she could not comprehend the fact that it had been a deliberate attack on her son by someone who then just drove off leaving the victim “to die on a wet pavement”. The mum said her son had suffered life-changing injuries in the incident which had impacted his self-confidence and feelings of self-worth but she said the family were “so proud of his strength and his character”.
Mitchel Jones, now 18, of Cyril Evans Way, Morriston, had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. Read about a sex offender who swam across a river to try to escape from a group of paedophile hunters who were chasing him.
Steven Thomas, for Jones, said the defendant was genuinely remorseful for his actions. He said the defendant works in Bath during the week and comes home to see his family at the weekends and that since the incident he has been “keeping his head down”.
Judge Catherine Richards said the defendant deliberately drove into the group of people and by his plea accepted that in those moments he intended to cause serious harm. She told Jones he had effectively used his car as a dangerous weapon.
The judge said she was mindful that the defendant had been 17 at the time of the offending but now fell to be sentenced as an 18-year-old. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Jones was sentenced to 40 months detention in a young offenders’ institution. He will serve up to 40% of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Jones was banned from driving for a total of three years and three months.
