A nine-year-old suffered head and leg injuries in a hit-and-run accident on New Year’s Eve, when a car ran a 'stop' sign in Birkirkara.

Jianu Doru-Florian told Times of Malta that his girlfriend’s son was injured when a car crashed into the side of his car at around 11pm.

The second driver fled the scene but later admitted his involvement to the police.

Mr Doru-Florian and his girlfriend suffered bruising to their legs. This was no bumper to bumper collision, he said, adding: "we were pushed three and half metres. I had a child in the car."

Mr Doru-Florian had just picked up his girlfriend and her son from Buġibba and they were getting close to his Birkirkara home when the accident happened on Triq Ignatio Saviour Mifsud, corner with Triq Il-Fuħħarin.

He recalled how the other car hit theirs from the driver's side, throwing the vehicle three and a half metres to the left.

The door on the driver's side was pushed in with the impact.

According to Mr Doru-Florian, who is originally from Romania, the other driver reversed his car and fled. 

Passers by sprang into action and helped them out of the car before an ambulance took the mother and her son to Mater Dei Hospital. They were discharged at around 3am on Wednesday.

In a post on the Expats Malta Facebook page, Mr Doru-Florian said that the licence plate from the second vehicle had been left at the scene and that the police informed him that the driver had later admitted his involvement.

"Had he not lost his license plate, he wouldn't have returned to the site. The police told me that he turned himself in and apologised." 

Referring to the feedback he received following his Facebook post, Mr Doru-Florian said he was disappointed at how frequent hit-and-run incidents seemed to be. "I hope the police do something about this,” he said.

A police spokesperson confirmed the details of the hit-and-run accident, identifying the driver of the second vehicle as a 52-year old man from San Ġwann.

He turned up at the Birkirkara police station, where he admitted his involvement. Investigations are ongoing and court summons will be issued.

Asked whether the San Ġwann driver had been tested for drugs or alcohol, the spokesperson said tests were “carried out if there is a reasonable suspicion. In this case there was no reasonable suspicion.”