A TEENAGER left his best friend with brain damage after a horror 100mph crash on the A23.

Sadri Gjana was driving to Brighton with pal Xhensil Vulcag when he veered across two lanes and into a layby.

His vehicle careered into the back of a parked lorry.

It caused “catastrophic” injuries to Mr Vulcag in the front passenger seat, who suffered multiple broken bones and severe brain injuries.

The teenager was cut free from the wreckage by the fire service and was in hospital for six months.

The Argus:

His family say he has lost any sense of his former personality and needs almost constant round-the-clock care.

Ghana admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving over the incident in August last year near Hickstead.

The 19-year-old appeared at Lewes Crown Court, where he was shown footage of the crash from a lorry’s dashboard camera.

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He held his face in his hands in despair as footage showed him attempting to move the car off the three-lane highway before it hit a kerb and went into the back of a parked lorry.

Gjana said he had suffered a panic attack about the conversation in the car, but tests showed his speed was between 96 and 106mph before attempting the risky manoeuvre.

He was jailed for two years and three months.

Robin Sellers, prosecuting, told the court Gjana may have had confusion over the road signs advising motorists of the next services on the southbound carriageway, as Gjana attempted to pull in.

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He said: “In the footage you can see the car in the outside lane.

“It drifts across three lanes in a clear and deliberate manoeuvre, with brake lights showing.

The Argus:

“The dangerousness in this case is the excess speed at which the vehicle was travelling at the time, and the decision to carry out the manoeuvre.”

Houzla Rawat, defending, said Gjana has been left devastated by his mistake.

She said Gjana came to the United Kingdom from Albania aged 13, and is diagnosed with post traumatic stress from experiences he had as a child.

Gjana, of Lawrie Park Road, Bromley, had been suffering a panic attack at the time of the incident, Ms Rawat said.

Judge Mark Van Der Zwart told him: “You left it far too late to get across the lanes of traffic. It caused devastating injuries.”

He jailed Gjana, and imposed an extra two-year driving ban.

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