Published Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Logan Tang, 19 and from Newtownabbey, will serve a year in the Young Offenders' Centre and a year on licence over what the judge branded "foolhardy, highly dangerous" driving.
Judge Tom Burgess told Belfast Crown Court that Tang and his two passengers were "incredibly fortunate" to have even survived the impact of the crash on the A8 carriageway on July 1 2009.
Earlier, the court had heard how Tang - driving a brand new Toyota Yaris just three months after passing his driving test - collected his two female passengers on the day in question and drove down the carriageway at speeds of up to 100mph.
Despite slowing down at the request of his passengers, Tang again accelerated to those speeds after going round the roundabout at Ballynure and heading back down the A8 - where he lost control, veered across the carriageway and ploughed into a tree.
A prosecution lawyer explained that Tang's front seat passenger suffered cuts, bruises and whiplash-type injuries, but that the back seat passenger sustained a fractured cheekbone and whiplash injuries to her neck and shoulder.
Tang admitted at the scene that the crash had been his fault and later pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving.
In sentencing the young driver, Judge Burgess warned that "anyone minded to embark on driving like this will, apart from in the most exceptional cases, face custody".
As well as the custodial term, Tang was banned from driving for two years.