A woman told a court today that her boyfriend was teaching her how to drive minutes before the car struck a pensioner who died at a caravan park.
Kylie Johnston, 26, claimed Nathaniel Cooper told her to sit on his knee as they were on their way back to the holiday park from a garage.
She said she was scared because she had never driven a vehicle before and relied on him telling her what to do.
But she claimed she eventually let her former partner take control of the steering wheel after the car entered Balthangie Caravan Park at Cumineston.
Miss Johnston, of Stonehaven, said the 4X4 went out of control and crashed into a static caravan on the site.
The vehicle also struck 65-year-old Andrew MacKay who ended up trapped underneath his holiday home and died at the scene.
Cooper, of Inverbervie, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of causing the pensioner’s trial by driving dangerously.
Giving evidence, Miss Johnston said: “I wasn’t sure to start off with, but he kept saying ‘come on, come on, sit on my knee. I will teach you how to drive’, tapping his legs.”
Advocate depute Andrew Brown asked: “Did you get in through the driver’s door?”
She replied: “On his knee. Yes.
“He was showing me the pedals down at the bottom and he told me to push my foot right down on the clutch and then the accelerator, and then lightly he said, and it stalled three times the car.
“After that I was just holding on to the steering wheel.”
Miss Johnston told the court that Cooper took control of the steering after the car veered too close to a building on the site.
She said: “I really relied on him, I didn’t know what I was doing.
“Everything happened so quick. The car was going about all over the place and everything.
“The car was going out of control. I was trying to find the brake and remember what he had told me.”
Miss Johnston, who is 4ft 11 inches tall, said she slid down to find the pedals before the car crashed into the caravan.
Cooper denies the charge.
The jury has heard that Miss Johnston previously pled guilty to a charge relating to the case and the plea was accepted by the Crown.
The trial continues this afternoon.
