A DANGEROUS driver was jailed after he deliberately ran over his cousin in a sport utility vehicle, throwing him into the air.

Joshua Evans, aged 22, of Mount Pleasant Road, Risca, targeted Jordan Yearsley whilst at the wheel of a Hyundai Santa Fe.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court how he hit his relative as the latter was fighting one of the defendant’s friends.

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Evans in his police interview claimed he had not meant to hurt his cousin and was only trying to stop the punch-up.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told the defendant: “It seems there was a dispute between you and Jordan Yearsley and there is a family relationship between you, and that you had fallen out.

“You deliberately collided with the victim as he was trying to get into the driver’s side of his vehicle and he was thrown into the air before you drove off.

“The complainant had a large cut to the back of his head, which was glued up, and grazes to his hip.”

The judge added: “You showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and the safety of others.

“This is a serious offence of dangerous driving. Those who use their vehicles as weapons can only expect an immediate custodial sentence.”

Evans pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on September 22, 2018 on Risca’s Darran Road and was in breach of a suspended jail sentence imposed earlier this year.

Mr Gobir read Mr Yearsley’s victim impact statement which said: “In the following days, I had headaches and nasty migraines which I needed medication for.

“I had to take a number of days off work which I lost pay for. I sometimes experience headaches and vomiting.”

The prosecutor told the court that Evans had eight previous convictions for nine offences, including violence, criminal damage, dishonesty and burglary.

In September Evans was jailed for three months, suspended for 18 months, for common assault, committed at the Ferns club in Newport.

The court was told the defendant had a “very bad cocaine habit”.

Since the imposition of his suspended sentence, he had tested positive for the class A drug, breached his curfew conditions and missed appointments with the Probation Service.

Ieuan Bennett, for labourer Evans, said his client had matured since the autumn of 2018.

Judge Lloyd-Clarke said no explanation was provided as to why the case had taken more than a year to come to court and added that she was taking the long delay into account as mitigation in the defendant’s favour.

She jailed him for nine months and Evans was banned from driving for two years, four months and two weeks.

He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.