A young boy has been left with catastrophic and life-changing injuries as a result of a drug driver who hit him 30 feet into the air and left him for dead.
Oliver Davies, 11, was crossing the road with a friend when Samuel Congreve, 24, hit him with his BMW and carried on driving without stopping to see the damage he had caused.
The screams of Oliver's friend alerted neighbours who called the emergency services and the rugby-loving boy's parents Amy and Alex received the phone call every parent dreads.
He was taken to hospital where he received treatment for injuries including a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, fractured spine and pelvis, a lacerated spleen and hip, a broken nose, punctured lung, broken teeth and grazes.
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Despite the injuries leaving Oliver unable to walk properly or to play the sport he loves, Congreve received a suspended sentence of four-months imprisonment, a sentence which has left Mr and Mrs Davies angry and upset.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, January 11, heard Oliver, then 10, was making his way across a pedestrian crossing on the A4048 in Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, on June 27 last year when the collision took place.
Amy said: "He was out with his friends, he was going to get a PlayStation lead from this lad's house. He came to the pedestrian crossing and Olly has gone on ahead of his friend and this car comes from nowhere. He looked at the last minute and tried running but it was too late.
"He got told by this other lad he was flung into the air 30 feet onto the other side of the road and this car drove off. He drove off without stopping."
Oliver's parents were told by their eldest son Morgan just after 9pm that Oliver had been hit by a car, and when Alex ran to the scene he saw his son lying unconscious in the road surrounded by paramedics.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court, Amy said: "Our initial thoughts at this point were was he still alive? How bad were his injuries and would he still be the same Oliver we always knew and love?
"The feeling that came over us both is hard to put into words, a feeling of sickness and absolute dread in the pit of your stomach that no parent should ever feel. My worst nightmare has always been to receive that phone call that one of our children had been knocked over and to have it happen is inconceivable....
"When we arrived on the scene to see our beautiful boy, seeing his body battered and broken, grazed from head to toe, his shoulder completely deformed and out of position and screaming in pain was horrific to see. Caused by this individual who didn’t even have the basic human nature to stop, not even knowing if he had killed our boy, a person not an object or even an animal but our son, a brother and a grandson, a human being."
Oliver remained at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for nine days but the effects of the collision have been long lasting. For weeks afterwards he woke up screaming and suffered cold sweats and nightmares.
The young lad was also unable to walk up the stairs and spent the summer at home while his friends played outside. He was also left crying in pain and had to be carried by his father when tired.
In their victim personal statement, Amy said: "My doctor has placed me on anti-depressants and sleeping tablets and even to this day I still often relive that horrendous night.
"I’m reluctant to even allow our kids out with their friends, about them even leaving our side, through no fault of their own but because of what happened to our boy at a pedestrian crossing. I even worry, myself, about knocking a child over and fear it every time I drive.
"Looking to the future we don’t know how it will affect Oliver both physically and mentally. He has ongoing problems with his back, which again we are currently awaiting results for. Will this affect his choice of job he can do later in life? Will Olly be able to play sports again? Will the nightmares return? These are things we won’t know yet."
Congreve was arrested and when tested for drugs, he was found to have 7.7mg of cannabis per litre of blood.
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The defendant, of Brook Rise, Oakdale, Blackwood, later pleaded guilty to failing to stop after a road accident, driving without due care and attention, drug driving and failing to report an accident.
He was sentenced to four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months. He was also made subject to a three-month curfew, a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement, to pay court costs of £85 and disqualified from driving for 24 months.
Speaking about the sentencing, Amy said: "It was disgusting, I walked out as soon as the judge said suspended. We behaved obviously but I wish I said more now. I have never shaken so much in my life, I was angry.
"All we wanted was a sentence, just something to get us a bit of closure, that he's actually being punished. I think to myself now I can go out, drink driver, knock a kid over, flee the scene and get away with it.
"Oliver was devastated, he burst out crying when we came through the door. He was gutted.
"The person who did this has shown no remorse and played massively on his mental health but I thought what about Oliver's mental health?"
*An earlier version of this article reported Oliver's mum saying the driver had been speeding but there was never any suggestion in court that he had broken the speeding limit
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