Watch shocking moment drink-drive mum sends car flying 15ft into the air - with her baby in the back

This is the moment a drink-driving Coventry mum launched her car 15ft in to the air, landing on its roof, while her one-year-old son was in the back seat.

Tania Chikwature, 32, was more than three times the drink-drive limit, having been downing vodka, when she lost control of her Nissan Qashqai as she drove to a wake.

She overtook a lorry on the approach to a roundabout before her vehicle mounted the concrete island and flipped over the roundabout, colliding with the crash barrier and coming to a stop about 50 metres further up the road.

This is the moment a drink-driving Coventry mum launched her car 15ft in to the air, landing on its roof, while her one-year-old son was in the back seat. Read More

The entire incident was caught in dash-cam footage and Chikwature was today jailed for six months having admitted drink-driving and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

District judge Ken Sheraton also banned her from driving for three years and said: "It's only by luck and certainly by no judgment of yours that you're not here today facing far more serious charges and you're fortunate that somebody didn't die in that accident."

Corrine Soanders-Silk, prosecuting, said that Chikwature, of Butterfly Walk, Henley Green, was seen overtaking a HGV on the wrong side of solid white lines on the A606 in Peterborough at around 11.40am on December 12.

Her 19-month-old son was in the back of the car at the time and members of the public who went to their aid pulled the child, who was hanging upside down in his car seat, out of the wreckage.

Chikwature suffered unspecified injuries.

Wreckage of car flipped by drink-driver Tania Chikwature from Coventry. Her one-year-old son was also in the car.

The entire incident was captured on a dash-cam and was witnessed by lorry driver Richard Jones.

He said in a written statement to Peterborough Magistrates' Court that he saw the car approaching "at speed" in his mirrors and had to brake to allow the car to complete the overtake manoeuvre.

"The car seemed out of control and from the speed it came past me I knew it wasn't making the roundabout," he said.

"I saw it veer right and mount the concrete roundabout.

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"I remember thinking as it launched into the air, they're not going to make it."

He said the car went about 14ft in the air.

"It cleared the roundabout, hitting a tree as it flew over it," he said. "I could see utter devastation."

The toddler was freed from the vehicle by a passing motorist and Chikwature was freed by firefighters.

Ms Soanders-Silk said that apart from being shocked, the toddler "thankfully was unhurt".

Wreckage of car flipped by drink-driver Tania Chikwature from Coventry. Her one-year-old son was also in the car.

She said the defendant refused to provide police with a breath sample at the scene, but agreed to give a blood sample four hours later in hospital.

Police, using a back calculation, found she had 246 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath at the time of the incident. The legal limit is 80mcg.

"She said she had been drinking vodka from 9pm to 1am the night before," said Ms Soanders-Silk. "She said she didn't feel drunk."

The court heard a vodka bottle was found in the car.

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Chikwature, a married stay-at-home mother, denied she had an alcohol problem.

"She did state 'I could have killed my son'," said Ms Soanders-Silk.

Sarah Dunne, mitigating, said Chikwature was remorseful and of previous good character.

Chikwature was jailed for 26 weeks for dangerous driving and 12 weeks for drink-driving to run concurrently.

She was banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay £115 costs.

PC David Tudman, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "Chikwature showed complete disregard for the safety and welfare of her child and other road users in her manner of driving.

"It is pure luck that nobody was killed that day.

"This should serve as a warning to all motorists to highlight the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol; and to do so whilst in charge of a child is utterly irresponsible."

Source: Watch shocking moment drink-drive mum sends car flying 15ft into the air - with her baby in the back