A young man has been fined €3,000 and banned for driving for a month after a court found him guilty of involuntarily seriously injuring a woman, damaging her car and driving carelessly but not dangerously.

Andrew Pace, 21, of Attard, smashed into Ann Marie Gauci on December 4, 2010, at around 3am, leaving her with a fractured and dislocated hip.

Ms Gauci was in a Fiat Uno driving towards Dingli and just passed a roundabout in Attard when she saw Mr Pace driving a Ford Fiesta approaching at speed.

He was driving on her side the road and as she tried to manoeuvre to avoid him by steering her car to the right, the two cars collided on their passenger sides.

Ms Gauci told the court that immediately following the accident and her car stopped in the opposite direction. She said she panicked after seeing a lot of blood and realised that she could not move. She phoned her parents and lost consciousness.

In the judgment, Magistrate Neville Camilleri noted how Mr Pace did not testify as was his right and had answered hardly any questions during his police statement.

He said that after considering the dynamics of the accident and the version given by Ms Gauci, he found her version of events to be credible and plausible although he was not satisfied with the level of evidence regarding his speed.

He noted that the road was wet at the time after a short spell of rain.