A 13-YEAR-OLD girl was left in intensive care after being struck by a speeding car and thrown 25 metres, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

Giovanni Sambucci (25), Tyrie Court, Kirkcaldy, admitted that on September 5 last year in Links Street he drove dangerously and at excessive speed.

He caused his car to swerve across the road and collide with three teenage girls, leaving the youngest with severe injuries and permanent disfigurement.

Sambucci also admitted he then drove off to avoid detection, and attempted to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard that at about 9.30pm Sambucci, with a friend, drove into Links Street and clipped the kerb where the girls were standing.

Two were struck by the car’s wing mirror but the 13-year-old was hit.

She was thrown onto the bonnet and hit the windscreen, which shattered.

She was then thrown forward and left with a significant wound to her forehead, a fractured knee, an internal head injury and other injuries including a broken tooth.

Sambucci’s shocked passenger told him to stop but he refused and drove to his home, half a mile away.

A passing taxi driver radioed for his controller to call an ambulance and the girl was rushed to Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, and later transferred to the Royal Sick Children’s Hospital, Edinburgh.

When Sambucci’s car stopped his passenger went home to tell his father of the incident.

They then went straight to Kirkcaldy police station.

Sambucci, an apprentice plumber, went to the police with his solicitor the next day.

He refused to answer police questions, except to confirm his identity and that there had been an accident.

The court was told the mechanics of the accident were never adequately explained.

Witnesses differed hugely in their estimates of speed accounts, for example, and it was never established if the car mounted the pavement.

Sambucci’s advocate Gordon Jackson said his client did not see the girls before he hit the kerb and afterwards panicked and left the scene.

Mr Jackson noted a police study concluded the injuries sustained and damage to the vehicle suggested high speeds were not involved.

He said the prospect of the teenage girl having to endure the ordeal of giving evidence was given much consideration before a guilty plea was offered to the court.

Sheriff Holligan deferred sentence to September 19 for social inquiry and community service reports.