Man's leg amputated after being mown down by speeding motorcyclist

A young man had to have his leg amputated after being run over by a speeding motorcyclist while walking home from work in Swansea city centre.

The victim was crossing Victoria Road near the south end of Wind Street in the city when he was struck by a bike being ridden by Isaac Morris who was leading a convoy of seven motorcyclists on a journey from the Mumbles area to Swansea. CCTV footage played in court showed the motorcyclists coming to a stop after the collision with many by-standers rushing to the scene.

The injured man, who was 20 at the time of the incident, had just finished work at the Premier Inn in Swansea city centre when he was hit by Morris’ Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle at around 9.30pm on the evening of May 19, 2023. 

The collision resulted in him being thrown into the air and landing around 40 yards away.

Morris, of Carmarthen Road, Fforestfach, Swansea, was himself taken to Morriston Hospital, where he was arrested by officers from South Wales Police, for treatment of minor injuries.

The victim was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff with “significant life-changing injuries”. These included a fractured shoulder blade, wounds to his chin, tongue and cheek, a fractured eyeball, and a bleed to the left side of the brain.

He was kept at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for almost a month and due to his injuries there was no choice but to amputate his right leg.

In a sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court on Monday prosecution barrister Abdul Hussain explained Morris was travelling at 55mph at the time of the collision on a section of road with a speed limit of 30mph.

An inspection of his motorcycle also revealed the state of its brake pads would have resulted in an MOT failure.

Mr Hussain read a victim impact statement to the court which said: “The incident has caused permanent and serious injuries. Each morning I have to put my prosthetic leg on just to carry out basic tasks.

“I have forgotten what it feels like to run or walk up a hill with ease. There is a possibility I could develop epilepsy in later years which adds to my stress.”

Morris, aged 26, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and also pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving relating to other separate offences in and around the Swansea area across April and May 2023, one of which saw him riding his motorcycle at 100mph on a road with a speed limit of 30mph.

In mitigation Ian Ibrahim said: “This is a tragedy because we have a young man who has a permanent disability for the rest of his life. Every time he wakes up he knows that.

“We also have another young man who has the guilt of causing that. The individual I saw this morning is not an arrogant individual. He is remorseful and was on the verge of tears.”

Judge Huw Rees told Morris he could have killed the pedestrian due to his dangerous driving but accepted the defendant was genuinely remorseful.

Judge Rees sentenced Morris to 32 months imprisonment for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and 16 months imprisonment for the four dangerous driving offences making a total sentence of 48 months in prison.

Morris has also been disqualified from driving any vehicle for 84 months and told he must pass an extended driving test before he can legally drive on the road again.