A man has been fined €1,500 and had his driving licence suspended for a month after he ran over a young man and kept on going on New Year's Eve.

Stephen Theuma, 46, from Rabat hit Horace Coleiro on Saqqajja Hill, Rabat  as he drove down the hill..

Mr Coleiro was on his way to Tattingers nightclub.

The car then hit Mr Coleiro pushing him to the ground and drove over one of his legs with the back wheel, breaking it and tearing three ligaments, the court heard.

Mr Coleiro had his leg encased in plaster for three months and suffered a 10 per cent disability.

The accused said that when driving down the hill, he saw a group of people standing on the pavement waiting to get into Tattingers nightclub. He was driving slowly when all of the sudden he heard a loud sound which he realised was his side view mirror which had just popped back into place.

He saw many people but no one called for him to stop so he continued on his way to Valletta when he was called to speak to the police at around 2am.

Mr Theuma said he thought that someone had hit his mirror and no one got injured.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said that he failed to keep a proper look out and instead of being cautious when faced with many pedestrians he drove rather close to them.