Girl, 4, left in wheelchair after driver high on cocaine mowed her down

A hit-and-run driver left a four-year-old girl in a wheelchair after mowing her down while nine times the drug-drive limit for cocaine.

Joe Oliver, 30, hit the girl as she got out of a car, leaving her parents cradling her on the roadside, Chelmsford Magistrates' Court heard.

The girl suffered a broken arm and leg, bruised lungs plus cuts across her body and spent six days recovering in hospital.

The youngster was initially in a wheelchair and needed to use a walking frame when she went back to playschool.

The court heard just weeks before Oliver was pulled over by police and failed a roadside drug test, testing positive for cocaine.

Oliver was found guilty of failing to stop after a road accident, careless driving and for two counts of driving while under the influence of drugs.

Oliver, of Wickham Bishops in Essex, was jailed for 22 weeks.

A court heard he first tested positive for cocaine after officers pulled him over just weeks before the horror crash in Maldon, Essex.

He had crashed his Mercedes into a tree on June 3.

Just weeks later, he got behind the wheel of his new BMW 120i M Sport Series while nine times above the legal drug-drive limit.

After hitting the girl Oliver crashed into three other vehicles and ran from the scene.

Oliver was found guilty of failing to stop after a road accident, careless driving and for two counts of driving while under the influence of drugs.

At Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, he was jailed for 22 weeks and ordered to pay a total of £1,090 in fines and compensation.

He was also banned from driving for 35 months.

The girl still suffers from the trauma of the incident and struggles to sleep in her own bed.

She could not return to playschool for "many weeks", and "still experiences difficulties" with one of the injuries.

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