A drink-driver has been jailed for 10 years after using his car as a “devastating and deadly weapon” to mow down two young women in Merthyr Tydfil .
The pair suffered life-changing injuries after charity worker Kristian Churchill, 37, smashed into them .
Nikita Price, 19, suffered two broken ankles and the flesh and skin of her left leg was stripped down to the bone requiring several skin grafts after the horror crash.
Her partner Luci Gregory, 21, suffered a fractured spine and two leg fractures and still walks with crutches more than two months after the collision.
Screaming in agony
The women were left screaming in agony after being sent flying into a garden by the force of the impact from Churchill’s black Renault Megane in the centre of Merthyr Tydfil.
And Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard drunken Churchill had targeted the girls following a row with one of their friends.
The pair had seen Churchill at gathering at a friend’s house but left after he started swearing at them.
Prosecutor Matthew Roberts said: “The two women were walking along the street when the defendant stopped his car and wound down his window to swear at Nikita.
“The next thing she remembers was him revving his engine and she found herself blacked out and on her back in the garden.”
'Car was used as a weapon'
Churchill, of Merthyr Tydfil, admitted two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, driving dangerously and driving with excess alcohol. He was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit.
The court heard he had also been found guilty of a separate charge of child abduction.
Andrew Davies, defending, said: “He has acknowledged the enormity of the offences and is devastated by the effect it has had on his victims.”
Jailing Churchill for 10 years and four months, Judge Michael Burr told him: “You used your car as a weapon with devastating consequences the women will have to live with for years.
“Cars can be used as deadly weapons and this is what happened that night, it was used in a devastating way.”
Churchill was also banned from driving for nine years.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/drink-driver-jailed-10-years-11521123
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