An 11-year-old girl was left lying in the road with serious injuries after a hit-and-run incident in Knighton, before the driver sped away, a court heard this week.

Gabriel Agu pleaded guilty to charges of driving without due care and attention and failing to report an incident after hitting the schoolgirl when she was dropped off by her school bus in the town on September 14, 2017.

He was handed a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must also carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, was disqualified from driving for six months and was told to pay a victim surcharge of £115 and £85 in costs.

Llandrindod Wells Magistrates' Court heard that 58-year old Agu had finished work at around 3.50pm in the afternoon and was driving down the A488 Ffrydd Road near Harry Tuffins supermarket when the girl, who had just been dropped off after school, stepped out to cross the road.

Witnesses said they heard a loud bang, before turning around to see the victim "flying through the air" after being hit by a black Toyota 4x4 driven by Agu.

The girl was left with two broken fibula, a ruptured spleen, lacerations to her adrenal gland and abdomen, as well as cuts and grazes to her arms and legs.

Agu, who works as a freelance surveyor, then drove off in the direction of Knighton town centre before returning to his home in Stoke-on-Trent.

Staff from the nearby hospital and passers by rushed to the girl's aid before she was airlifted to hospital to undergo immediate surgery.

At 10.30pm that evening, police attended the address of Agu, where he was arrested. Police noted a large dent to the bonnet of his car, as well as cracks on the bumper and headlights.

Virginia Hayton, defending, said her client decided not to stop because he was scared and "afraid of being lynched" following the incident, so he decided to go home and report it to his local station. She says when police attended his home, he was waiting for his wife to return from work before presenting himself to a police station in Stoke-on-Trent.

She said her client had no previous convictions and no penalty points on his licence, that he was of good character and a role model for young people in his local church, where he was heavily involved.

She said Agu had suffered a "lapse in concentration which had left him with insufficient time to stop" when the girl crossed the road.