A drink-driving mother who badly injured three men when she smashed her car into a bookmaker’s shop has been jailed for three years.
Donna Stewart ignored her victims’ pleas to slow down before she ploughed into a branch of William Hill in Inverness city centre.
Stewart, 46, was originally charged with attempted murder but her August trial in Aberdeen was halted when she pled guilty to the lesser charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving while intoxicated.
Judge Graham Buchanan told Stewart: “Your actions were totally irresponsible and resulted in devastating consequences for each of your three victims.”
He said: “You were driving whilst intoxicated through alcohol, to some extent at least, and it is plain your speed was grossly excessive.
“Your passengers were alarmed by what you were doing and asked you to slow down but you ignored their pleas.”
Sentencing
At the High Court in Edinburgh, the judge said: “It is clear that in the circumstances only a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate.
“In this particular case I have concluded that your level of culpability is high and so is the level of harm you caused.
“Three people suffered severe injuries as a result of what you did and this is an aggravating feature of the case.”
The judge pointed out the maximum sentence for the offence of causing serious injury by dangerous driving is five years imprisonment.
He told Stewart he would have imposed a four-year jail term but for the fact she had offered the eventually-accepted plea before trial.
Stewart, of McCallum Court, Perth, was also banned from driving for six years and told she will have to pass an extended test before she can regain a full driving licence.
Originally faced attempted murder charge
Stewart was originally charged with attempting to murder her partner Hugh Lowther and two other passengers – Stephen MacDonald and John Fraser – following the crash on January 21 2021.
She admitted causing serious injury by driving dangerously while intoxicated in streets in Inverness.
She drove at excessive speed, failed to negotiate a junction and mounted a pavement before hitting the building in Grant Street.
Booze and Dragon Soop
The court heard Stewart – who was living at Glenurquhart Road in Inverness at the time – and her long-term partner Mr Lowther had visited a woman at her home.
Stewart discovered he had been unfaithful and gone back on a promise to end his involvement with drugs.
Prosecutor John Macpherson said that appeared to have been “the catalyst” for Stewart to start drinking heavily and becoming increasingly upset.
She was drinking wine and the caffeinated alcoholic drink Dragon Soop.
The couple drove to a friend’s home, where they were heard arguing and Stewart insisted on driving the Mercedes C220 with the men as passengers after they left.
During the journey one of the men said the car’s speedometer registered 80 mph and they were all shouting at her to slow down.
CCTV footage showed the car emerge at high speed from Lower Kessock Street, where it crossed Grant Street and forcefully collided with the wall of the bookmakers.
‘Life-threatening’ injuries
Members of the public helped remove Mr MacDonald and Mr Fraser from the vehicle. Stewart and Mr Lowther were cut out from the car by firefighters.
All four were taken to Raigmore Hospital, in Inverness by ambulance.
Mr Lowther suffered leg, spine and breastbone fractures and underwent surgery.
Mr MacDonald also underwent surgery after sustaining broken bones in his right thigh and ankle.
Mr Fraser also underwent operations following a hip injury.
The injuries sustained by the men in the crash were categorised as severe and life-threatening.
Defence counsel Janice Green said Stewart has expressed “genuine remorse” for the offending.
She said Stewart accepted her judgement was impaired after drinking and added: “She accepts her abuse of alcohol in response to this distress does not assist her case.”
