Tredegar family 'devastated' after drug-driver avoids jail - BBC News
Oliver Davies, 11, suffered a fractured spine when he was hit by a drug-driver.
Amy Davies (centre) says Oliver (right) has been "let down" by the sentence handed to Congreve

The family of an 11-year-old boy seriously injured in a hit-and-run incident are "disgusted" the drug-driver has been spared jail.

Oliver Davies, of Tredegar, was left with a fractured spine, numerous broken bones and a punctured lung after he was hit by a car last June.

Driver Samuel Congreve, of Blackwood, was handed a four-month suspended sentence by Newport magistrates.

Now Oliver's family want the "unduly lenient" sentence reviewed.

Oliver was crossing a road as he walked home from a local shop with friends when he was struck by the car being driven by 24-year-old Congreve.

"His friend said he was flung 30ft (9.1m) up in the air," said his mother Amy Davies.

"I was crying my eyes out. I didn't know at that point whether Ollie was still alive. It was horrendous. We just felt physically sick."

Oliver was left with multiple serious injuries

Seven months on, Oliver's injuries have not yet fully healed. He remains in pain and has difficulty doing many of the things he enjoyed before the crash.

"We can't do stuff that we used to now, because Oliver can't walk very far," said Mrs Davies.

"He doesn't go out now really. I can't remember the last time he went out with his friends. They're out playing football and rugby and Oliver can't do it

"He can just be sitting down or standing and all of a sudden he'll scream out in pain.

"We went on holiday in August and his father had to carry him.

"We can't say long-term what it's going to be like."

He also broke several other bones as well as a punctured lung

As well as the suspended sentence, Congreve was also made subject to a three-month curfew, a 20-day rehabilitation course and ordered to pay court costs and a victim surcharge.

However Oliver's family want the court's decision earlier this month to be reviewed.

"We're just disgusted," said Mrs Davies.

"The only thing we can get out of this now is him actually getting a prison sentence. That's the only closure we can hope for really.

"But I'm not confident at all. We've been let down".

The Ministry of Justice would not comment, but referred the BBC to guidance which states sentencing is decided by independent judges, who have access to all evidence in each case.