A firefighter convicted of a hit-and-run accident which left two young men seriously injured has had his sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal.

Tymothy Scraders, 26, was convicted earlier this year on his own guilty plea of causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of a collision.

Supreme Court had heard that on July 21, 2013, Scraders was overtaking two cars on Middle Road, in Paget, when he struck a motorcycle travelling in the opposite direction. The rider of the motorcycle, 18-year-old Matthew Correia suffered a broken clavicle and finger, while the pillion passenger, 18-year-old Christian Hillen suffered extensive leg injuries.

While the two teenagers lay injured in the street, Scraders drove away. He told the court that he didn’t realise the seriousness of the crash, saying a passenger in his car told him that the motorcycle had ridden away.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves sentenced Scraders to six months for each of the two counts of causing grievous bodily harm, the sentences to run concurrently. He also sentenced Scraders to three months for leaving the scene, ordering that sentence to run consecutive to the others. Scraders subsequently appealed against his sentence for leaving the scene.

In a written decision by the Court of Appeal, the Justices wrote that the trial judge’s approach to that element of sentencing appeared to be confused, noting that he initially sentenced Scraders to six months for the offence — the maximum statutory penalty. Once it was pointed out to him that the penalty was the strictest allowed under the law, he reduced it to three months noting the defendant’s guilty plea.

‘We would hold first that the learned judge was correct to impose a consecutive sentence, secondly, and obviously, he was wrong to impose the maximum sentence of six months in the present case,” the decision said. “Thirdly, we would hold that apart from the guilty plea, and in the circumstances of the present case which have not been dealt with in any detail in this judgement, the appropriate sentence on count three was not more than three months, not taking account of the guilty plea.”

The Justices felt the concurrent six-month sentences for causing the accident were appropriate, but decided that the penalty for leaving the scene of an accident should be reduced from three months to two months to reflect Scraders’ guilty plea, and to be served consecutive to the other sentences.