A motorsport enthusiast’s ”negligent and reckless behaviour” almost cost a young boy his life, a court has heard.
The youngster sustained a serious head injury after Martin Boag let him loose behind the wheel of a powerful go-kart.
He was airlifted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee after the vehicle crashed at an off-road track in Perthshire. The child was not wearing a helmet and Perth Sheriff Court heard the vehicle was not recommended for use by anyone under 16.
Boag (29) was told he had been guilty of ”extraordinary complacency” with regards the child’s safety and of ”reckless and negligent behaviour” that could have had ”fatal consequences”.
Witnesses reported that Boag had been left ”devastated by the incident” and had shown great concern for the child’s welfare.
Sheriff Robert McCreadie told him his error of judgment was deserving of a custodial sentence, only to stay his hand and impose an alternative to imprisonment.
He instead made Boag the subject of a community payback order with the conditions that he carry out 225 hours of unpaid work and be under supervision for a year.
Giving details of the offence on Wednesday, depute fiscal Stuart Richardson told the court the off-road track had been built on private land.
Boag was spotted arriving at the track, at Whitehills Farm by Gleneagles, shortly after 5pm on May 1 last year.
”Unfortunately Mr Boag allowed the nine-year-old to get into the buggy and drive off along the track,” Mr Richardson said. ”Even more unfortunately the boy did not seem to be wearing any form of protective equipment such as a helmet though he was wearing a seatbelt.
”Almost inevitably the young man lost control of the kart and drove into a ditch by the side of the track. He cracked his head on the frame of the vehicle when it crashed and he was seen to be bleeding quite badly from a head wound.
”The boy had to be carefully removed by medical staff and then airlifted to Ninewells where he underwent a scan.”
It was discovered that the boy had suffered a depressed fracture of his skull. Mr Richardson said had thankfully since recovered from his injuries.
A police investigation resulted in Boag, of Fortingall Place, Perth, being charged. He was due to face trial at the court last month but offered a last minute guilty plea admitting that he exposed the boy to unnecessary suffering or injury by allowing him to use the off-road kart, which was meant for a fully-grown adult.
On behalf of his client, solicitor John McLaughlin told the court the accident had taken place on an access road leading to the off-road track.
”It was never Mr Boag’s intention for the child to go onto the course,” he said. ”It appears that the vehicle hit a rut and that the injury was caused when his head struck the roll cage.”
Boag admitted that, in retrospect, he had been ”negligent in the extreme”.
Sheriff McCreadie told Boag: ”The manufacturers of this go-kart could not have made it plainer with their warning that this is an adult vehicle that is not suitable for any child under 16 years. You compounded your error by not ensuring that the child was wearing a helmet.
”I understand your remorse, but this is after the event. It should be obvious from looking at this vehicle that there is a danger of injury being caused by the vehicle itself.
”The child would have been catapulted around the vehicle. This is manifestly not a vehicle that any child should be anywhere near.”