An Inverness van driver still has “nightmares” and “flashbacks” to the night he ran a red light and caused two nurses to be seriously injured as they crossed a busy city junction.
Three other people were also hurt in the incident on March 15, 2015 when 41-year-old Sean Macdonald ran into the back of a vehicle in front of him near the Tesco roundabout on Sir Walter Scott Drive.
The collision caused it to surge forward, hitting student nurses Emily Pollock and Nuala Prentice.
Miss Pollock fractured her pelvis, suffered cuts, grazes and bruises mainly to her hands, knees and left buttock.
A head injury required five stitches by her colleagues in Raigmore Hospital, just a few yards away from the scene.
Miss Prentice sustained cuts and bruises to her legs, knuckles, a small bump on her head and a painful left calf.
The occupants of the car, Joanne and Matt Salles and their friend Edilberton Bellermino were also injured.
She sustained a broken arm and sore shoulder; Mr Salles a painful neck and back and Mr Bellermino a fractured rib and badly bruised back and leg.
Macdonald of Ashton Crescent had admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing when sentence was deferred until yesterday fort a background report.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson was told that Macdonald had been under the influence of diazepam and an anti-depressant when the crash happened.
Police said he was practically falling asleep when they arrived.
His lawyer,Marc Dickson saved his client from jail with an emotional plea about his client’s remorse and mental health problems before and after the collision.
He said: “He was a father of four but lost two of his children in 2000 and since then has struggled with life and he became drug addicted.
“He had a number of life stresses which led to his dependancy on illegally sourced diazepam. His recollection of events is poor but as a result of it, he suffers from post traumatic stress, anxiety, nightmares as well as being troubled with flashbacks.
“If he could turn the clock back he would. He is genuinely contrite and accepts he was reckless and that it is extremely fortunate that the outcome was not more serious.
“At least he didn’t put the victims through the ordeal of reliving that night in evidence.”
Sheriff Neilson imposed the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work on Macdonald, placed him under supervision for 18 months, banned him from driving for three years and ordered him to take a drug treatment programme.
She told him: “If you breach it, you will come back here and will be sent to prison.”
Macdonald said from the dock: “I won’t let you down.”
At the earlier court hearing fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said: “Macdonald seems not to have reacted to the red stop light signal, the Salles’s stationary car or the two pedestrians on the crossing.
“He collided with the back of the car, shunting it forward into the crossing and striking both the pedestrians.
“He said to his passenger, Gavin MacBeath, something like “What have I done?”
“Police arrived and declared Macdonald to be showing signs of being under the influence of some substance.
“Subsequent analysis of his blood established the presence of the benzodiazepine tranquiliser Diazepam and its metabolites, and also the antidepressant Mirtazapine.
“Just over half of all patients who are prescribed the latter drug report drowsiness. “ Mr Urquhart went on.
