A Fraserburgh man standing trial over the death of a pedestrian had only driven a car twice before he was involved in a crash on a north-east road.
Steven Duthie is accused of causing the death of Richard Jones by hitting him with a car on the B9033 Fraserburgh-St Combs road on May 23 last year.
A video recording of police interviewing Duthie following the collision was played at the 32-year-old fisherman’s trial at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday.
When asked by detectives if he had ever driven a car before the incident, Duthie replied that he had, on two occasions.
When asked about the collision itself, Duthie insisted he had tried to swerve to avoid hitting 22-year-old Mr Jones, and said: “The boy just jumped out in front of me.”
When detectives asked if he had braked before or after the Volkswagen Sharan collided with Mr Jones, Duthie said it was not until after the crash that he started to brake.
He then told detectives he helped to put the unconscious Mr Jones into the recovery position while his friend, William Stephen, who owned the car, called an ambulance.
Duthie then said he and Mr Stephen “just panicked”, and drove back to a house in Inverallochy, where Duthie began drinking alcohol while Mr Stephen called police.
The court previously heard from witness Constable Christopher Arnott, 24, that the fisherman was nearly double the drink-drive limit within five hours of emergency services being called to the scene.
Investigator Sergeant Harry Gordon, 42, had previously told the trial he estimated Duthie had been driving at less than 30mph at the time of the crash.
Duthie told detectives during the interview he had “two pints” while he was at the Balaclava Bar the night before the collision.
The jury of eight men and seven women has previously been told Duthie was in the Fraserburgh pub from 6pm to 11pm on May 22, 2008.
Mr Jones was hit near Cairnbulg Cemetery and died of his injuries at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on May 30.
Duthie is said to have been driving dangerously, while unfit through drink. He denies the allegation, as well as an alternative charge of careless driving. Duthie, of 50 Finlayson Street, Fraserburgh, also faces charges of driving without a licence and without insurance. He denies all the charges.
The trial, before Lord Woolman, continues.
