20-year-old Liverpool student jailed for mowing down supermarket shopper in uninsured car

A 20-year-old university student has been jailed following an instance of reckless driving that hospitalised a supermarket shopper in a car park earlier this year.

Hlobelam Nongwr, of Willmer Road in Anfield, appeared in Liverpool Crown Court yesterday afternoon to face prosecution for his “dangerous driving” that seriously injured a supermarket shopper on April 8th of this year.

He has been jailed for 20 months and banned from driving for two years and 10 months, and will be required to pass an extended driving test before he is allowed back onto the roads.

via Merseyside Police

The university student and representative was driving an uninsured BMW on a provisional licence when he mowed down Katarzyna Dybalska, who was crossing the car park on foot while wearing a hi-vis jacket and pushing her shopping.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Hlobelam Nongwr was seen to be “driving at speed and going around in circles, doing doughnuts” in the car park of the Aldi supermarket on Salop Road, Walton at around 9:30 pm.

The driver’s front seat passenger allegedly “told him to stop multiple times” but the student “didn’t listen to him”.

Instead, he continued to drive “dangerously” through the supermarket car park before colliding with Katarzyna Dybalska.

The impact flung the shopper into a wall, which Hlobelam Nongwr then veered into and destroyed.

The shopper suffered multiple fractures to her tibia and ankle. She later underwent surgery and still remains off work – but she is expected to make a full recovery with “no lifelong consequences”.

When shown the CCTV footage of the incident in court, the 20-year-old student “became tearful”.

He was holding his head in his hands in court as he was sent to prison over the incident.

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Hlobelam Nongwr was arrested at the scene, and told Merseyside Police officers under interview that he “decided to spin the car like on TV for no particular reason” and that he “just felt like it”.

He admitted to his charges in court yesterday; causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

The sentencing judge, Anil Murray, said: “You were driving a car in a supermarket car park. You were trying to complete manoeuvres known as a doughnut, in other words, putting the car into a spin.

“You did this in vicinity of shoppers. One, Katarzyna Dybalska, was pushing her shopping, wearing a high visibility vest. You lost control of the car and collided with her, and she was then pressed against the wall by the car.

“There were passengers in your car. One of them says that he told you multiple times to stop, but you did not listen. You said that you were spinning the car like on television, you just felt like it and lost control”.

The judge continued to emphasise the recklessness of the student’s driving.

“This was obviously a highly dangerous manoeuvre. It was a deliberate decision to disregard the risk to others. You disregarded persistent warnings. The victim was a pedestrian, therefore a vulnerable road user. You did not have a licence and were not insured.

“You are 20, immature and of good character. You have work and are at university. It seems that you decided to complete these manoeuvres to see if you could, and you were excited about it. You were trying to impress your friends. You used to use cannabis, but now you have stopped”.

Hlobelam Nongwr had stated in court that he was a user of the Class B drug, and had last smoked it the day before the incident.

Judge Anil Murray then told the student they “cannot suspend this sentence” despite reading “references about you which say that you are of exceptional character, you uplift others, you are deeply remorseful, you have led church activities”.

The student’s defending lawyer, Lucy Moran, had told the court that he felt “remorseful for his actions” and had become a university representative after the accident.

Lucy Moran said: “This was a spur of the moment, impulsive, albeit awful, mistake.

“He is now a student representative at university and is employed at Hill Dickinson Stadium, and has been referred to talking therapies for mental health support”.

Hlobelam Nongwr now faces a 20 month prison sentence and will likely not return behind the wheel until September 2028.

Featured images via Merseyside Police and Unsplash