A WOMAN may be in pain for the rest of her life because of injuries she suffered when a speeding driver shot out of a T-junction in a Warwickshire village and ploughed into her car.
Leaving her trapped and in agony, Gurdeep Notay, who had already hit a police car moments earlier, fled from the scene – and then tried to blame her for the crash when he was arrested.
But despite the two collisions and his callous behaviour, he escaped being jailed after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Appearing at Coventry Crown Court, 29-year-old Notay, of Lawford Road, Lawford Heath, Rugby, was sentenced to 21 months in prison suspended for two years.
He was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for four years but, despite being in work, was not ordered to pay any compensation to his victim or costs.
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said at just after midday on Sunday September 2, a police car was on the outskirts of the village of Shilton, as an officer kept an eye on a Ford Focus.
The officer then saw the Focus being overtaken on a bend by an Audi Q7 4-wheel drive SUV at great speed, doing what the officer estimated to be 90mph.
The Audi, driven by Notay, was swerving from left to right, and struck the police car, which was part-way out out from a junction, ‘a glancing blow.’
Without slowing down, Notay carried on into Shilton along Wood Lane, continuing to drive at high speed even after entering the 30mph zone in the village as another officer pursued him.
Meanwhile Debbie Ratcliffe was driving her Mini towards the village along the B4029 in the direction of Bulkington.
As she reached the T-junction with Wood Lane, where Notay should have stopped and given way, the Q7, almost twice the weight of her car, shot out from the junction into the front of the Mini.
The Q7 carried on in a straight line, spinning the Mini 90 degrees, and both cars ended up as though they were parked next to each-other, at right-angles to the carriageway.
Leaving Ms Ratcliffe trapped and injured in her car, as people living nearby rushed to help her, Notay ‘decamped and ran,’ but was found hiding nearby and arrested.
He said he had tried to avoid the police car by swerving, and had then panicked after hitting it, said Mr Simpson, who pointed out that the front tyres of the borrowed Audi were both below the legal tread limit, with one so bad it was delaminating.
Ms Ratcliffe had suffered a number of injuries in the crash, the most serious of which was a broken and dislocated ankle, for which she had to undergo an operation.
According to a consultant, it will leave her at risk of developing arthritis, and the ankle will never be fully normal, and she ‘may always have a degree of pain.’
In a statement, Ms Ratcliffe, who has ‘shooting pains’ when she tries to walk, said: “The driver of the Audi initially tried to blame me. He ran away, which is a selfish thing to do. He had no consideration for me, and left me trapped in my vehicle.”
Philip Bradley QC, defending, said: “I have to accept there’s been a degree of prevarication on his part in terms of his acceptance of precisely what he did. It is made all the more unattractive when there was, early in his interview, explicit blame on others.
“He has written a letter to the victim which stands in fairly stark contrast to the finger-pointing.
“He accepts fully he is responsible for serious injuries to a completely blameless lady.”
Mr Bradley added Notay had ‘a plethora of character references,’ and worked hard for modest wages to support his wife, and two children, with a third on the way.
Recorder Anupama Thompson told Notay: “Rather than coming to your senses and facing up to your responsibilities, you ran away and hid.
“Miss Ratcliffe has sustained serious injuries, the effects of which are going to be with her for the rest of her life, and she may require further surgery.”
But of her decision to suspend the sentence, Recorder Thompson added: “You are a man who has behaved irresponsibly, but I don’t see why your two children and one on the way should pay the penalty for that. It is only because of the effect it would have on your children that I have taken this course.”
