A MUM has vowed to appeal a "shocking" low sentence handed to drug driver who left her 10-year-old son for dead after mowing him down in a hit-and run in his BMW.
Samuel Congreve, 24, was spared jail despite leaving little Oliver Davies with life-changing injuries in the crash while high on cannabis and instead given a driving ban.
Oliver's mum Amy, 35, said she was "disgusted" as her son suffered a punctured lung, broken arm and nose, dislocated shoulder, fractures to his spine and pelvis, a lacerated spleen and hip and broken teeth.
Rugby-loving Oliver was at a pedestrian crossing on the A4048 in Tredegar when he was struck by Congreve coming "out of nowhere" and knocked "30ft" into the air.
Ms Davies and husband Alex, of Tredegar, were told about the crash by Oliver's brother Morgan, and dad Alex ran to the scene to find his son surrounded by paramedics.
In a victim impact statement read at the sentencing, Ms Davies 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.
"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, now 11, spent nine days in hospital following the smash and was left unable to walk upstairs or play with friends for weeks afterwards he suffered recurring nightmares.
Mum of three Ms Davies said the collision in June last year had affected the whole family and she had since been prescribed anti-depressants.
Congreve, of Oakdale, Caerphilly, pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident causing personal injury, driving without due care and attention and driving with cannabis in his blood.
He was handed a four-month suspended sentence and told to obey a three month curfew. He was also banned from driving for two years.
Ms Davies said the family had been let down by the lenient sentence.
She said: "We're appealing the sentence. I was so disgusted with it. We thought it was going to be a plea hearing and then adjourned but they went ahead and sentenced that day.
"They didn't have a police report, they didn't have dashcam footage or a statement from another driver. I don't know how it went ahead."
Ms Davies said Oliver was "disgusted".
She said: "What kind of message does this send out to people. It just gives them permission to go out and do this type of thing."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel