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Search forCroydon girl tells how crazed driver has ruined her life
Friday, August 08, 2008, 07:00
Brave Jemma Sharkie's spine was cracked and she has been haunted by flashbacks of being hurled into the air since the shocking attack.
She told the Advertiser she was hit after intervening in a vicious argument between the driver and his ex-girlfriend. And she revealed the sick thug is sending threatening messages to her in online conversations while he evades captivity.
Jemma, 17, appealed: "I hope they catch him before someone else gets hurt.
"I'm too scared to go out since he's making these threats.
"He says he'll 'pop' anyone who gets in his way [on Facebook]."
The Coningsby Centre graduate, who wants to be a youth worker, is now drifting in and out of sleep at her home in Woodside.
As well as her damaged spine, she also has a shattered wrist and bad migraines caused by the force of the smash and landing head-first on the car door.
Jemma told how it was sheer bad luck she ran into the bickering couple outside Bar Red Square, before midnight on Saturday, July 26.
She was innocently making her way with a friend to an 18th birthday party in Coulsdon, but "couldn't just stand by and ignore a friend in trouble".
Jemma said: "I ran into my friend and saw her ex-boyfriend was trying to lash out at her. I stepped in and told him to leave her alone. I told him he'd get arrested if he carried on like that.
"But he smashed a glass bottle on the ground and two of my friends, who are boys, saw it and they got upset and tried to calm him down.
"I then walked the girl to the bus stop to make sure she was out of harm's way, before I returned to her ex-boyfriend to check my friends weren't giving him a hard time.
"He was mad. He got in the car, made a U-turn and went for my friends. I was standing a little behind them and he hit me. I went across the bonnet, up in the air, and hit my head on the back door, which was open.
"That's the last thing I remember. I passed out, unconscious."
Jemma was rushed to Mayday Hospital where she underwent two operations in three days, and was discharged last Tuesday.
She is due back on August 14 to have the metal rods in her wrist removed.
"I'm in so much pain and I can barely move my neck," Jemma said. "Everyone thought I was going to die, I'm lucky to be alive.
"I feel I've lost everything, because I was trying to do a good gesture. "It's as though my liberty, my career, and my life has been destroyed.
"I was supposed to be taking my driving test for the work I want to do with children, but now it's physically impossible. And I'm petrified of cars and walking outdoors.
"Before I only expected to be hit if I was in the middle of the road, but now I know I could even be hit standing on the pavement."
DS Brian Flynn, who is on the investigative team, has appealed for witnesses to help trace the suspect.
Anyone with information should call temporary investigator Lee Haslett on 020 8649 0277 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Jemma and her family would also like to give a special thanks to the paramedics who, they say, saved her life.
Badly hurt: Jemma Sharkie is recovering at home from horrific injuries after she was hit by a car Photo No: CCRKS070808A20 by Kevin Shaw.
