A woman suffered three broken ribs, a broken arm and cheekbone from overloaded Logan minibus crash

A woman can no longer move the fingers on her left hand after a Logan man without a valid driver’s licence crashed a minibus, overloaded with 13 passengers.

A Logan man who crashed a minibus overfilled with 13 passengers, while not holding a valid driver’s license and seriously injured a female driver, faced court.

Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard on March 19 last year, Ejide Ndatabaye, 25, crashed a minibus on the corner of Forrest Hill Fernvale Road and Lake Clarendon Way.

He was driving the minibus for work and hit another driver who sustained serious injuries including a broken arm, three broken ribs and a broken cheekbone.

The court heard the victim could no longer move the fingers in her left hand.

The minibus held 13 passengers, which was over the legal limit for a vehicle of that size.

Ejide ndatabaye crashed a minibus overloaded with 13 people, seriously injuring a woman

Ndatabaye pleaded guilty to charges of driving without care or attention to cause grievous bodily harm, driving without holding a license and carrying a load exceeding normal capacity.

The court heard the defendant was born in a refugee camp in Uganda and immigrated to Australia three years ago.

Magistrate Michael Holohan said it was possible Ndatabaye did not fully understand the road rules in regard to having a driver’s license but that was no excuse for the accident.

“You were probably taken advantage of, in being made to drive 13 colleagues 12 hours after starting your shift,” he said.

“You are incredible lucky that you are here and you are incredibly lucky your 13 passengers are OK too. It is by sheer fortune that is the case.

“You shouldn’t have been driving that day, you weren’t authorised to drive that day and you shouldn’t have been carrying 13 people.”

The defendant was sentenced to 18 months probation.

He must attend a traffic offenders program and was disqualified from driving for nine months.