Circus performers helped remove two children from a minibus after it was involved in a fatal collision that claimed five lives, a court has heard.
Acrobat David Amoll and colleagues came across the crash between a minibus and SUV, close to the Drummuir junction near Keith.
Alfredo Ciociola, 50, has denied causing the deaths of five people – including his four-year-old son Lorenzo – by driving the minibus dangerously on July 26 2018.
Mr Amoll told the High Court in Edinburgh he used a sledgehammer to break a rear window on the minibus while another member of the troupe went into the vehicle.
He said: “He told me there were three passengers in the van – two children and a woman.
“He picked the first kid up and brought him out. He was unresponsive. To me, he was not breathing at all.”
The circus artist continued: “He handed me the second child who was covered in blood. He was very stressed and crying.”
He said he passed the first child to another colleague, adding: “He took him to a separate place to try to resuscitate him”.
The second child was passed to another colleague.
The crash killed five people
Ciociola is accused of failing to give proper attention to the road ahead, falling asleep, repeatedly braking and driving onto the opposing carriageway and colliding with a Nissan SUV driven by Morag Smith.
Three passengers in her vehicle, Audrey Appleby, Edward Reid and Evalyn Collie died.
And a passenger in the Fiat Talento driven by Ciociola, Frances Saliba, also died along with his young son.
Mr Amoll, 28, said he and other performers with Zippo’s circus were on tour.
They had put up a tent in Elgin before travelling to Aberdeen to see the Ladyboys of Bangkok and the Moscow Circus.
The group were heading back to Elgin at the time of the crash.
Mr Amoll said they came across the collision involving the Nissan SUV and minibus and others had already stopped at the scene.
He went to the driver’s side of the white minibus and saw the driver.
“He said, ‘My family is in the back. Please help them.’ I tried to open the door but it was jammed,” Mr Amoll said.
The witness said he went around the back of the vehicle and could hear a child scream.
He tried to break a window with his hands before retrieving the sledgehammer from the circus personnel’s own vehicle, the court was told.
Mr Amoll said emergency services arrived as efforts were made to open a door on the Nissan.
No recollection of the crash
The jury heard that the Nissan SUV driver, Ms Smith, 44, has no recollection of the crash.
Her first memory after the collision is of waking up in hospital with her family at the bottom of the bed.
The former offshore worker said she had driven her friends to Elgin to take part in line dancing, before starting out on the return journey to Aberchirder.
She told advocate depute Derick Nelson that she could not recall coming to the Drummuir junction but remembered later waking up in hospital.
Ms Smith said she was later told that the three passengers in her car had died.
She said that she was subsequently medically retired and still experiences pain after sustaining injuries in the crash.
The trial before Lord Mulholland continues.
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