A 41-year-old man was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, with ban on driving, for injuring a cyclist by hitting him with his car and leaving the scene of the accident. The driver partially admitted his guilt. The sentence was passed by the Drochia Court, IPN reports.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, it happened in Corlateni village of Riscani district. The man, who was driving in an advanced state of inebriation, talking on the phone, struck a 57-year-old man, who was legally riding his bicycle. As a result of the serious injuries sustained, the cyclist died.

The driver did not stop the car he was driving and did not ensure, as far as possible, the keeping of the traces of the road accident. He also did not give first aid to the victim. After noticing that the struck bicycle was trapped between the right headlight and the front bumper, a few hundred meters from the scene of the accident, he got out of the car, detached the bicycle and threw it into the drainage channel on the right side of the road. At that moment, he was seen by a number of witnesses.

The sentence is not final and can be appealed to the Balti Court of Appeals within 15 days.