By Man jailed after targeting ex-partner with a vehicle in a ‘rage’
A Grimsby man drove his Ford Fiesta at his ex-partner and her friend in an apparent rage after she blocked him from her Facebook account, a court heard.
Ryan Meggitt, 19 was jailed at Grimsby Crown Court, after admitting dangerous driving on Wingate Road, Grimsby on July 21 last year.
Meggitt, of Salamander Close, also admitted three offences of assault by beating.
His ex-partner jumped to avoid the vehicle but her friend was knocked over and tossed over the bonnet of the car in the incident referred to as road rage.
Prosecuting at court, Benjamin Donnell told how Meggitt was angry at being blocked from her social media account and went round to where she was staying with a friend.
He sounded his car horn outside the flat and later banged on the door.
When she answered the door he began shouting at her and struck her across the face. A second woman, the victim’s friend, intervened and warned Meggitt to stop shouting, she was also slapped in the face.
The altercation continued out into the road outside of the property, where Meggitt got back into his car and again sounded his horn.
The ex-partner gestured she was going to throw a traffic cone at his car and waved his wallet that she had taken from his car.
Mr. Donnell said the two women walked along the road towards the flat.
Meggitt drove his red Fiesta at them mounting the kerb near Wingate Road.
The former partner of Meggitt was able to jump clear of the speeding car, but her friend was struck by the vehicle at speed.
A witness saw the defendant hit the woman who landed on the bonnet and was thrown in the air and landed in the middle of the road.
“He did not attempt to stop and flew past the Valiant pub. The woman was unable to get up and the witness put her in the recovery position until the ambulance arrived. It was suspected she had broken her pelvis. But she was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary and escaped with grazes and bruising,” said Mr. Donnell.
Meggitt handed himself in at Birchin Way police custody suite, the barrister told the court. He commented in the interview.
In a statement, the woman struck by the vehicle said: “I was crying and shaking. I was laid out with everyone around me and thinking why can’t I get up? It did not hit me until my sister picked me up from the hospital. When I try to go to sleep I keep getting flashbacks of the car hitting me.”
Representing Meggitt, Hannah Turner said: “He is a young man, a son, and a father. He is not a usual suspect. He has a child. He realises it was a lapse of consequential thinking and a lapse of judgement.
“He can’t believe what he has done. He is deeply ashamed of his behaviour and has the deepest remorse for his behaviour.”
Recorder Anthony Kelbrick said: “I don’t accept you lost control while driving that car. Whether you intended to run them over I don’t know. You could have stopped. But you didn’t and knocked over the woman. That she did not suffer death or serious injury is a matter of luck.”
Meggitt was jailed for 15 months for dangerous driving and was banned from driving for two years and ordered an extended retest. One month in prison for each of the assaults will run in unison with the jail term.
