A 22-year-old Smith’s man who ran his girlfriend off the road was yesterday given a suspended sentence.Reid Perinchief, of Bridle Hill Road, pleaded guilty in April to two counts of causing actual bodily by dangerous driving.Magistrates’ Court heard that in the early hours of June 19, 2010, Perinchief and his girlfriend, Jasmine Simons, got into an argument over text messages on Perinchief’s phone.She then left the house in her car with a friend. A short time later, Perinchief also left the home, attempting to get back his cell phone, which he believed Ms Simons had taken.At around 3.15am, Perinchief saw Ms Simons’ vehicle travelling in the opposite direction and drifted into her lane. The two vehicles collided, causing Ms Simons to lose control of her car, which subsequently struck a nearby building.Perinchief did not stop at the scene of the collision or contact police, but drove home.Both Ms Simons and her friend suffered minor injuries in the collision. They reportedly did not know at the time that it was Perinchief who struck them.Perinchief was arrested and charged with the collision in April of this year, having spent the majority of the last two years studying overseas.Senior Crown counsel Garrett Byrne said that while the defendant had pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving, the evidence suggested the collision was actually deliberate.“It was suggested that the collision occurred as an accident, however one view of the evidence, based on all the circumstances, is that he deliberately drove into the oncoming vehicle which was driven by his girlfriend,” Mr Byrne said.“He knew it was her in the car coming in the other direction. Having crossed the line and recognised the car, he then didn’t report the accident to police.”Mr Byrne said that in a police interview following his arrest, Perinchief was asked why he left the scene of the collision. He told the officers: “I was mad. She stole my phone.”Lawyer Richard Horseman, representing Mr Perinchief, however said the incident was “a piece of bad driving”, arguing that if the Crown thought the accident was deliberate they should have charged the defendant differently.“It was in the middle of the night and he just clipped the car,” Mr Horseman said. “There were no serious injuries.”Perinchief is a young man with no previous convictions, the incident was completely out of character and the complainants had accepted his apology, Mr Horseman said.Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner found that, given the circumstances of the case, the collision was “not purely accidental,” and should attract an immediate custodial sentence.However, he also noted the defendant’s guilty plea, the prolonged period between the incident and sentencing and that the complainants appeared to have no ill-will towards him.Given all the circumstances, he sentenced Perinchief to three months imprisonment, suspended for a period of two years. He further fined the defendant $2,000 and banned him from driving all vehicles for a period of two years.