Man jailed for high-speed car chase that injured seven-month-old baby

Ciaran Ferguson, 24, of Oldpark Road in the city, pleaded guilty to a total of 12 charges which included causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking causing damage.

Prosecution barrister James Johnston told Belfast Crown Court that on the evening of July 3, 2018, Ferguson was the driver of a black Audi 1 car which had been stolen two days earlier.

After a tip-off from Ferguson’s mother, police spotted the vehicle on the busy Crumlin Road in north Belfast and pursued the Audi which was travelling at speeds of up 89mph in a 30mph zone.

Mr Johnston said the car failed to stop for police, jumped a red light, clipped several cars before striking a Renault Megane car near the Ardoyne shops.

The barrister told Judge Kevin Finnegan QC that the impact of the collision forced the Megane into a nearby property, destroying a wall, smashing windows and “narrowly missing a resident standing in the front garden’’.

The Audi continued at speed and struck another car carrying a man and a seven-month-old baby, “flipping the car on to its roof’’.

“The wife of the man was travelling directly behind and thought her husband and child had been killed,’’said Mr Johnston. Fortunately, he added, the child suffered only bruising, while the driver of the Megane suffered serious injuries to his spleen and liver.

Mr Johnston added: “It was a miracle that people were not killed in this incident.’’

Ferguson will spend two years in custody and two years on licence on his release from jail.