A DRIVER smirked and winked at his girlfriend as a court heard how his car mounted the pavement and hit a teenager in Bournemouth town centre earlier this year.

Sam Farnden suffered a life-changing bleed on the brain when he was hit by Asil Mohammed’s VW Passat in St Peter’s Road on January 19. The defendant then allegedly ran off.

Mr Farnden, who was 19 at the time of the collision, had to give up his painting and decorating business and move back in with his parents after the crash. He suffers fits and can no longer drive.

He has also split up with his partner after his post-traumatic stress disorder and mood swings left him unable to cope. She will soon give birth to their first child.

Mohammed, who is 31 and of West Hill Place, Bournemouth, has been repeatedly banned from the roads since 2015. Two days before hitting Mr Farnden he was allegedly caught drunk at the wheel of his vehicle, Bournemouth Crown Court heard on Friday.

He was sent to prison after being convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He is due to return to Poole Magistrates’ Court to face further allegations of drink driving, failing to stop and failing to provide a specimen of blood for analysis.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Farnden, who was visibly emotional, said he still has fractures to his arm. He also has scarring to his face, hips and back.

“[Mohammed] has been able to get on with his life, but I haven’t,” he said.

“I am distraught at the strain this has put on my family.”

It was heard that Mr Farnden had been walking along the road with a group of friends on the day of the crash when he heard the sound of screeching tyres.

He tried to see where the noise was coming from and saw the Passat mount the pavement and then collide with him. The force of the collision pushed him up against a nearby wall before he fell to the floor.

The car was then allegedly captured on CCTV driving away at speed before it was left parked in Parsonage Road. The driver was seen to walk into a nearby hotel, drop his jacket off to his room and leave again.

Officers searching for the offender arrested Mohammed in Bath Road.

He admitted he was the owner of the car and the keys to the Passat were found in a jacket recovered from his room. However, he denied being the driver.

He was convicted of the offence after a trial, during which Mr Farnden’s family were allegedly escorted by security over their fear of Mohammed, his girlfriend and his friends.

Mohammed could be seen rolling his eyes and smiling during proceedings on Friday.

The court heard he was allegedly hit over the head with a crowbar last summer, which left him with a fractured skull and a brain injury. He suffers with frequent fits as a result of his injury.

Judge Ben Compton said the defendant had been driving around Bournemouth in an “aggressive” manner before losing control of the vehicle and hitting Mr Farnden as he walked on the pavement.

Mohammed was sentenced to four years in prison. He was also banned from the roads for six years, and will have to take an extended driving test before returning to the road.

PC Paul Wilson, of the road traffic unit, said: “Asil Mohammed’s manner of driving that day was reckless and dangerous and it is nothing but sheer luck that his actions did not claim his victim’s life or that of another innocent pedestrian or motorist.”