Unlicensed driver Mark Gilbert fronts court for mowing down charity jogger Sian Radi

A career criminal and unlicensed driver was more concerned about driving away after mowing down a jogger than helping the seriously injured victim.

Sian Radi was jogging 3km a day to raise funds for Oxfam when unlicensed driver Mark Gilbert mowed her down.

A physiologist mowed down by a career criminal while out jogging for a worthy cause is feeling “quite numb” at the prison sentence the man responsible for the crash received.

Mark Roy Gilbert was sentenced by the County Court on Thursday to six years and eight months in jail for driving a stolen car on the wrong side of the road, onto the footpath and into the path of jogger Sian Radi.

He will have to serve five years and two months before being eligible for parole.

The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury, failing to render assistance and theft.

The crash happened on the afternoon of March 31, 2022 at Kingsbury.

Gilbert got behind the wheel of a Toyota CHR wagon that was stolen from Alfredton three days earlier with a fake number plate made of laminated paper.

There was no evidence that Gilbert was responsible for the fake number plate.

The mangled wreck of the Toyota CHR wagon unlicensed driver Mark Gilbert was driving when he collided with a runner and seriously injured her.

He drove on the wrong side of Chenies St, in Kingsbury, and mounted the footpath before hitting Ms Radi.

A witness observed Gilbert, who had never held a driver’s license, looking “spaced out” and tried to pick up a seriously injured Ms Radi before he attempted to push the car out of the way and start it.

He even asked a man who was assisting the injured jogger to help him move the stolen car but was told to move away.

Gilbert collected items from the damaged car and walked away from the scene.

Ms Radi, an accredited exercise physiologist, was on the last day of a month-long jogging event to raise funds for Oxfam Australia and was 500m from home when tragedy struck.

She suffered fractures to her hip, spine and pelvis and remained in hospital for 21 days.

The keen jogger and camper underwent extensive medical treatment, including surgery on her pelvis and plastic surgery on her hand.

Sian Radi is unable to fulfill her love for camping and other outdoors after the accident.

Doctors told her she would require 12 to 18 months of rehabilitation and could suffer from potential lifelong effects because of the nature of her injuries.

Ms Radi said it would have been nice for Gilbert to receive “a bit more” given the significant injuries she suffered that turned her life upside down.

“At the moment, I am just feeling quite numb. My body is just protecting everything. Is the sentence enough? I don’t think it will ever be enough. I wasn’t necessarily happy with the six years,” she said outside court.

“I would have liked a bit more. He has like four and a half years before he can actually go for parole. I think it’s a bit low.”

Ms Radi learnt in court that Gilbert tried to pick her up after mowing her down.

Judge Michael Tinney said Gilbert’s reaction after seriously injuring Ms Radi “beggars belief”.

“You showed more interest in removing your car from the scene. Unbelievably, you tried to pick her up but this wasn’t by way of providing any assistance to her,” he said.

A recidivist offender who’d spent almost all his adult life in prison, the judge said Gilbert’s prospects for rehabilitation was poor.

Judge Tinney said within hours of being given an adjourned undertaking for a receiving offence, Gilbert got behind the wheel and ended up seriously injuring Ms Radi.

He said Ms Radi felt like a child again, being cared for by her mum and partner, and had not been able to return to work.

“A young life is being consumed by rehabilitation rather than enjoying life. You have, in an instant, altered the trajectory of her life,” he said.