BIRMINGHAM: A crazed drink-driver who deliberately smashed into a group of men – sending one 6ft in the air – has been jailed for 12 months. Javeed Malik sent one victim “clean up into the air” before mounting a second charge at the group across a pedestrian area.
The 33-year-old, of Garrison Lane, Bordesley Green, fled when police arrived on the scene. Malik was locked up and banned from driving for three years after a judge used his Volkswagen Golf “as a weapon”. He admitted charges of dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.
Warwick Crown Court heard he had several previous drink-drive convictions and was on licence from a ten-year sentence for his part in an armed robbery in 2008. He went on the attack in Coventry city centre in the early hours of May 21.
The crash victim got straight to his feet, the court heard, and ran back towards the group.
Malik told police his pal was attacked when they became separated after leaving a nightclub. He spotted the incident as he drove around looking for his friend. Malik accepted he had driven across the pedestrian area but claimed he did not deliberately drive at the man he hit.