A DRINK and drug driver who crashed into a mother after she had just been to her pregnant sister’s baby shower has walked free from court.

Luke Thomas caused serious injury to Kristy Norman as she was taking a child out of a booster seat from her car on Cwmbran’s Station Road.

Jason Howells, prosecuting, said: “The victim’s sister Shanae Parker and their mother Paula Osbourne recall hearing or feeling a loud bang and both compare it to ‘a bomb going off’.

“They had come from a baby shower, for Shanae Parker, and she describes the cake from the celebration being thrown off her lap into the footwell.

“Paula Osbourne describes being thrown around as if she was ‘on a fairground ride with no control of her movements’ and her ‘head moving violently from side to side’.

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“Both describe seeing Kristy lying on the floor, unresponsive but with her eyes rolling and only her hand moving.”

She was unconscious but came to at the scene following the collision at around 5.30pm on Sunday, September 6, 2020.

Miss Norman was taken by ambulance to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport.

She was treated for bruising and pain around the back of the scalp and left knee and abrasions around both lower legs.

A roadside breath test showed Thomas was over the drink drive limit and a drug swipe revealed he had cocaine in his system.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the defendant told interviewing police officers he had been to a house party in the Griffithstown area of Pontypool the night before.

He admitted drinking alcohol and taking cocaine before going to sleep at around 8am the next morning.

Mr Howells said: “At about 5pm that Sunday, he and other friends decided to go to the garage on Avondale Road, Cwmbran, in order to get a drink – they did so, with him driving his black BMW 120d.

“He stated that he exited the Avondale garage and turned left, he then stopped at a set of red traffic lights and intended to turn right onto Station Road.

“As the lights went through the sequence, he turned right, and the car kicked out and spun – this was because, he said, the traction control was not working correctly on the damp roads.

“As a result, he crashed into another couple of vehicles, one being owned by Kristy Norman.”

The court heard the victim suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and memory problems following the crash.

Thomas, 33, of Osborne Road, Pontypool, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drink driving and drug driving.

Kevin Seal, mitigating, said: “The defendant said he has a massive sense of guilt.”

He added how his client, a father, had found work at a factory in Blaenavon.

The judge, Recorder Mark Cotter QC, told Thomas he was able to spare him from going immediately into custody because there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

The defendant was jailed for 22 months, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was made the subject of a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay £800 costs.

Thomas was banned from driving for two years.