A drink-and-drugs-fuelled driver from Angus ignored “petrified” pleas to slow down moments before a devastating fireball crash that left a teenager paralysed.
David Will from near Brechin was “showing off” to his two passengers when he hit speeds of 120mph while under the influence of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine, a court heard.
Will’s high-powered Audi overturned and burst into flames after he lost control and barrelled into a dry stone wall.
Front seat passenger Owen Emslie – who was 18 at the time and had never met Will before that night – was pulled from the burning wreckage on the A93 near Peterculter but will never walk again.
He was at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to hear Sheriff Morag McLaughlin tell Will a prison sentence is “inevitable”.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton said: “Witnesses travelling along the road came across the vehicle a short time later and contacted the emergency services.
“As they approached, they saw that the car had caught fire and the fire was quickly spreading throughout the vehicle.”
Those passersby noted Will and the other passenger were free of the car but Mr Emslie was trapped.
They managed to free him from his seatbelt and drag him from the vehicle moments before it was “consumed by fire”.
All three were treated at the scene and taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
At 3am the same night, Will provided a double-the-limit alcohol test and a saliva swab showed he was also over the limit for both cannabis and cocaine.
Will told officers: “I was the driver.
“I’ve been drinking and taking other things, cocaine and cannabis.”
‘They knew what they were getting into’
However, during a later police interview, he backtracked on that admission and denied having consumed any alcohol or drugs.
He said that he did not know either of the men he had taken for a drive, but admitted he was “showing off” and had been driving too fast.
He tried to shift the blame onto his two passengers, claiming they “knew what they were getting themselves into”.
The fiscal added: “He also claimed that they were encouraging him to go faster as opposed to him encouraging himself.”
Teenager’s life changed forever
The car was so seriously damaged by fire a mechanical examination of it was not possible.
The court heard while backseat passenger Mr Inglis was uninjured, Mr Emslie was paralysed from the waist down and will never regain the use of his legs.
He was transferred from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow, where he spent three months getting treatment.
Despite surgery to stabilise his broken spine, his condition is not expected to improve and he is now a full-time wheelchair user and requires help from nurses and carers daily.
Doctors say he will require “lifelong medical follow up, investigation and monitoring to watch for signs and complications of his injury”.
‘He is utterly ashamed’
Will admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said: “He takes full responsibility for this dreadful incident with truly catastrophic consequences.
“He is utterly ashamed and genuinely remorseful for his conduct. He wishes to make an unreserved apology to his victim for the life-changing injuries.
“He realises the damage he has done and he understands there will be only one possible outcome here.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin agreed that jail would be inevitable but granted Will, of Bellfield, Little Brechin, bail to “get his affairs in order” while background reports are prepared.
He will be sentenced next month.
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