A man who ran over a pedestrian in a hit-and-run incident on New Year’s Eve has been fined €1,500 and had his driving licence suspended for a month.

Stephen Theuma, 46, from Rabat, ran over Horace Coleiro at Saqqajja Hill, Rabat, in 2010.

Mr Coleiro was on his way to Tattingers nightclub and was about to mount the pavement when his friend, Jonathan Vella, was hit by the orange Ford Focus’s side mirror, the court heard.

The car then hit Mr Coleiro, knocking him to the ground before its back wheel ran over one of his legs.

The victim sustained fractures and three ligament tears.

He had his leg in plaster for three months and suffered a 10 per cent permanent disability.

Josef Zammit, who was waiting in the queue to get into the nightclub, had noted the car’s registration number.

Mr Theuma testified that, as he was driving down the hill, he saw a group of people standing on the pavement waiting to get into Tattingers.

He was driving slowly when, all of a sudden, he heard a loud sound and realised it was his side view mirror that had just popped back into place.

Nobody had called for him to stop, so he continued driving towards Valletta. Police wanted to speak to him at about 2am.

Mr Theuma said he thought that someone had hit his mirror but did not think anybody had been injured.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli concluded that Mr Theuma had failed to keep a proper lookout and, instead of being cautious when faced with many pedestrians, he drove rather close to them.

He was found guilty of negligent and careless driving.

Deciding on punishment, the magistrate took into consideration his clean police record and the fact that he immediately admitted having been involved in the accident to the police.