Melbourne:
An Australian judge on Tuesday sentenced an Indian man to three years and five months in prison for dangerous and erratic driving that resulted in a car crash that caused a woman to lose her baby.
The court heard that Amrick Thind, 23, was weaving in and out of traffic, failing to use his indicator and driving erratically before he collided with another vehicle last December. That vehicle in turn hit the car of Hannah Robert, who was eight months pregnant. Robert lost the baby because of injuries sustained in the accident.
Thind fled the scene.
"Within the space of a few seconds, the way in which you were driving caused irreversible and heartbreaking changes to the lives of a number of those people," Victorian County Court Judge Meryl Sexton told Thind during sentencing. "No one could fail to respond to the devastation of this couple losing their baby girl shortly before she was due to be born."
Thind, an Indian national who came to Australia in 2006 on a student visa, pleaded guilty to five counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury and one of failing to stop after an accident.
Robert said in a statement she hoped the case would prompt drivers to be safer on the road.
"We don't take any joy in seeing a young man go to jail, but it has been gratifying to see this matter treated seriously," she said. "We sincerely hope that every other driver will keep this case in mind when they put their hands to a steering wheel, and that they will remember how many lives depend on good, calm driving, and if there is an accident, on stopping to give assistance."
Thind is likely to face deportation after serving his minimum sentence of two years and three months.