A mother and her six-month-old baby boy were pushed against a wall after a drunk driver mounted on the pavement and slammed into them.
The “despicable” incident happened on the evening of October 14 last year in Belgrave Road as pedestrians were walking along the Leicester’s famous Golden Mile.
Bipranjit Singh 32-year-old got in his car leaving his home in Cossington Street, Belgrave,
after drinking and having a row with his ex-wife, intending to drive round and confront her in person.
Once on to Belgrave Road, Singh who was nearly twice the drink-driving limit, drove towards two sisters out walking with their three children.
Singh ended up pinning one mother to the wall of a shop, smashing her right leg, and also crushing her baby son’s pushchair against the wall.
The baby escaped unhurt.
The woman has still not recovered from her injuries and still walks using two crutches seven months after the incident.
Singh, who admitted charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol, was jailed for 22 months at Leicester Crown Court on 8 May and will be banned from driving for two years after his release.
Judge Martin Hurst told him it was a “despicable act” and praised the members of public who grabbed Singh to ensure he could not escape or do any further harm after his car came to a halt.
The judge said it made no sense why Singh had decided to mount the pavement when one of the two lanes of Belgrave Road was clear of traffic.
He said: “The only explanation is you were emotionally overwrought and had been drinking too much to be thinking about getting behind the wheel of a car.
“You’d had so much to drink you didn’t know what you were doing.
“That child was crushed against the shop front and his mother was too.
“There is no certainty she will make a full recovery now, or ever, from what is a nasty injury.
“It must have been apparent to you what was going on.
“I accept you did not attempt to flee.
“If you had you would not have got far – happily a large number of members of the public were rapidly around the vehicle.”
Earlier in the court hearing, the judge was read a victim impact statement from the injured woman, who is having to stay at her sister’s flat with her son because she cannot care for him alone.
In the statement, read out by prosecutor Philip Gibbs, she said: “I have to walk with two crutches and I do not go out apart from for medical appointments.]
“I’m scared to go outside and I feel fear whenever a car passes by.
“The doctors have not yet indicated how well my leg will heal.
“I feel like a burden on my family.
“I’m having sleepless nights thinking about my future.
“I have serious concerns about how we will be able to function as a family.”
Sarah Cornish, representing Singh, who had the hearing relayed to him by a Punjabi interpreter, said her client had been a lorry driver with a clean driving licence before the incident.
She said: “It was completely out of character. This was a moment of madness.”
