Hosea Niyomwungere avoids jail for DUI Parramatta hit and run at Argyle and Marsden streets

A man who ran a red light and knocked down four people before leaving the scene to buy Guzman Y Gomez was so “dishevelled” he failed to keep his trousers up when returning to the crash.

Drunk driver Hosea Niyomwungere, who ran a red light and knocked over four pedestrians before leaving the crime scene to buy a Mexican meal at Parramatta, has been spared time in jail because of his health problems.

Niyomwungere, 24, ignored the light at the intersection of Argyle and Marsden streets on December 28 and injured the group crossing the street, causing the front screen window of the Ford Focus to shatter like a “spider web’’.

He appeared for sentencing in Parramatta Local Court on Tuesday when the court heard Ye Gu, Jie Lei, Shiyum Zhang and Xiao Xue Shi suffered injuries including to the hand and shoulder, and lost consciousness after the crash shortly before 9pm.

Hosea Niyomwungere after a March court appearance.

The offender was more concerned about his hunger than the people he injured.

Niyomwungere kept driving north a short distance on Marsden St before he and his two passengers ran back to the victims.

But the court heard that while one of the passengers apologised to the victim, Niyomwungere did not show remorse and instead, returned to his car, drove to Campbell St to park it and walked back to Guzman Y Gomez to order food.

He eventually returned to the crash scene where police spoke to a “dishevelled” and glassy-eyed Niyomwungere who was so intoxicated he failed to recall the incident and struggled to keep his trousers up.

But at Parramatta Local Court on Tuesday, Niyomwungere’s legal aid solicitor, Timothy Scott, said Niyomwungere’s “personal circumstances’’ including health problems, required him to serve his sentence at home.

“It causes extreme pain that requires hospital treatment,’’ Mr Scott said, adding that his “isolation from family and the difficulties he’s had in integrating to the Sydney community’’ warranted special circumstances for the refugee.

Niyomwungere’s early guilty plea was also taken into account. In February he pleaded guilty to failing to stop and assist after injury, not giving particulars to injured person and driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Magistrate Rodney Brender sentenced Niyomwungere to a 15-month intensive corrections order, which allows him to serve the sentence at home, and 150 hours of community service.

He was banned from driving for 18 months and must place an interlock on his car if he gets behind the wheel for two years after that.

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