Devastating moment show-off driver ploughs into own friend 'as something of a game'

Devastating moment show-off driver ploughs into own friend 'as something of a game' Mehmet Celik, 24, smashed his car into best friend Thomas Rees, 23, on his way to pick him up from a night out - leaving him with a brain injury and multiple broken bones Horror footage shows the moment a dangerous driver mowed down his own best friend after speeding down the street "as something of a game". Mehmet Celik, 24, ploughed into pal Thomas Rees with his car when he was asked to pick him up from a night out - and left him with a brain injury. Photographs later shown in court show Mr Rees sprawled out on the road after being hit by Celik's Kia in Swansea, south Wales. The trial heard the pair were lifelong friends, having attended school and university together. Mr Rees, 23, had been on a night out in when he messaged Celik asking if he could give him a lift home shortly after 1am. Prosecutor Ryan Bowen, said Celik "sped past" their meeting point - then used a wide junction to turn around. But this manoeuvre came at the exact same time Mr Rees was crossing the road to get into the passenger side of the car. Mr Rees was hit, with the impact so violent that his shoes were knocked off in the crash, Mr Bowen said. Passersby rushed to help, including Celik, who was described as "hysterical" at the scene, before Mr Rees was airlifted to hospital. Swansea Crown Court heard he suffered bleeding to the brain, a blood clot to his lungs, a broken breast bone, and a fractured calf bone, leaving him in hospital for several weeks. Celik was travelling at 36mph on the wrong side of the carriageway on the 20mph road, a police report found, with the crash leaving his front windscreen smashed, bonnet heavily dented, and headlights broken. He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. A victim impact statement heard Mr Rees' recovery had been "prolonged and deeply upsetting" and his life was now "shaped by his limitations." David Singh, for Celik, said: "This was an appalling lack of judgement by the defendant. There has always been a correlation between young men and demonstrations of bravado and driving in a certain manner. "Fortunately the consequences were not fatal. He has lost his friendship through a moment of utter madness. "There was nothing sinister. This was a misguided attempt to show off which backfired spectacularly. This was not prolonged dangerous driving and took place over a relatively short distance. "This was an inexplicable decision to show off, and show bravado, which backfired spectacularly. He has sincere remorse for what happened. There are terrible circumstances for everybody involved." Judge Geraint Walters said: "This is a case of two young men, mates at school, who shared a room at university together, and one ends up maiming the other in a moment of complete and utter, on the face of it, madness. "When you arrived in Mumbles, you entered a 20mph zone, much lamented by many, and drove at a plainly excessive speed in wet conditions and, as something of a game, on the wrong side of the road. "Your friend was mowed down by you, and the whole thing is captured on CCTV. When will young people learn the road is not a playground? Every day you set foot in your car you take your own life and every other road user in your hands. "It's a constant surprise to me that new or relatively new drivers are not curbed in the activity they may perform in motor cars until they perform relative maturity in motor cars. You're not alone in this. You can't take to the roads without finding a youngster or some older people who think the road is a race track which they own. "Since the time of the incident, you have been able to move on with your life, unlike your victim, running your own business in Swansea. Your victim isn't as lucky, and still bears the scars of what you did." Celik was handed an 18-month suspended sentence for dangerous driving, and given a four month nightly curfew. He was also ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work, and banned from driving for two years.