Two months before the offending, Ackroyd had been disqualified from driving for 13 months after he sped through an intersection and slammed into a car, seriously injuring two men, in December 2021.
Ackroyd fled the scene on foot, leaving an injured passenger in his ute who he later tried to blame for causing the crash, and without checking on the victims in the car he hit.
One of them suffered a concussion, cuts to his arms and hands and spent two days in hospital, while his brother sustained serious injuries including collapsed lungs, fractures to his spine and pelvis, a ruptured hemidiaphragm, a broken jaw and a displaced spleen and stomach.
He had urgent surgery to repair the injured organs, and was admitted to the critical care unit at Whanganui Hospital before being transferred to ICU in Wellington for observation.
He had to wear a neck brace for six weeks, was in a wheelchair for six weeks and had to use crutches for another six weeks while he learned to walk again and had three metal plates inserted into his jaw.
He was still undergoing treatment when Ackroyd was sentenced in October 2022 and branded him a coward in his victim impact statement.
