Victims Mandie Refaat, Sarah Ahmed and Alison du Four enter the Royal Court yesterday. Picture: MATTHEW HOTTON (00868547)

THREE women who were mown down by a drunk driver after the Miss St Saviour competition in April last year have told how the accident devastated their lives.

Their accounts of the events of the night of 24 April and how their lives have since changed come a day after the driver who hit them, 23-year-old Sophia de la Haye, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison and disqualified from driving for five years after admitting three counts of grave and criminal assault, driving dangerously while under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop on three occasions to report accidents.

Her victims, who have all been left with long-term physical injuries as a result of the accident, have welcomed the sentence and are now urging people to learn from their experiences.They also believe that driving after any amount of alcohol should be banned.

Yesterday the Royal Court heard how de la Haye, of Rue de Samarès, St Clement, was almost twice the legal drink-drive limit when the car she was driving mounted the pavement and drove into Mandie Refaat (47), Alison du Four (43) and Sarah Ahmed (33) outside the Mayfair Hotel, leaving all three seriously injured.

• Full interviews with the victims are published in today’s Jersey Evening Post