Jailed: Shropshire hit-and-run driver, 20, left victim brain damaged
A Shropshire driver who was involved in a hit-and-run which left a man in a coma and with life-changing injuries has been jailed for six months.
Nathan Simon Morrison was one of three pedestrians who were hit by an Audi being driven by Samuel Fidoe as they walked home in Cleobury Mortimer, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.
The 38-year-old suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured skull, and has been left with brain damage. He is also learning how to walk and talk again.
Mr Morrison, who has 18 years of service in the Royal Navy and is currently staying in a rehabilitation centre in Surrey, had to have a string of operations and two of his fingers amputated.
Fidoe, 20, of Childe Road, Cleobury Mortimer, had admitted charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident, before he was sentenced on Thursday. Mr Richard McConaghy, prosecuting, said the collision took place on the A4117 in Cleobury Mortimer in the early hours of September 11 last year.
Mr McConaghy said: “He struck them and notably made no attempt to slow down or stop either before or after the collision.”
He said Mr Morrison, a father of three, suffered “life-changing injuries” and ended up in a coma.
The court heard that one of the other men who had been hit suffered less serious injuries and the third man was not hurt.
Investigations led police to examine Fidoe’s car, which was found damaged, with a broken windscreen.
At the time of the collision, Mr Morrison’s wife Marianne had been four months pregnant with the couple’s first child together.
In her victim impact statement, she said she went to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to see Mr Morrison in hospital after the collision, adding: “The image of him laying there will haunt me forever. The day of the accident was the worst day of my life.
“I couldn’t believe there was a chance he would not meet our baby.”
She said that due to his condition, Mr Morrison was unable to be at the birth of his child and only has limited communication skills.
Mrs Morrison said he was learning to walk again and had even had to learn how to swallow again.
“This tragedy has had a massive effect on our family and friends. Everyone is heartbroken,” she said.
The court heard that during a police interview, Fidoe said he thought he had clipped a 4x4 vehicle and he had “panicked”.
Mr Ian Bridge, representing Fidoe, said he was filled with “shame and remorse”.
Judge Jim Tindal said he accepted Fidoe was remorseful and that he had lost concentration through being tired after working for too long.
He told Fidoe: “That is nevertheless dangerous driving because you knew how tired you were.
“Tiredness can be just as devastating as driving while drunk.”
He said he had to give Fidoe an immediate jail term to “mark the seriousness” of what he did.
Fidoe was jailed for six months and banned from driving for two years.
