A footballer broke down yesterday as he admitted killing his teammate in a horror crash – just three months after passing his test.
Alistair Downie was driving too fast and lost control of his Peugeot as he gave a group of teammates a lift home from a match on Eriskay.
After losing control on the bend in Daliburgh, the car smacked the kerb before crashing through a garden fence, knocking down a tree.
It rolled seven times, throwing Downie’s lifelong friend Carl Macphee – and another young passenger – from the vehicle. Mr Macphee was so badly injured he died.
Yesterday Downie, of Benbecula, sobbed in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff Court as he admitting causing the 19-year-old’s death by driving dangerously.
Forensic investigations found he had been doing at least 51mph in a 40mph zone – but the inexperienced driver blamed the state of the roads for the crash.
The apprentice mechanic was remanded in custody and faces a lengthy jail term when he returns to the dock next month.
Downie and Mr Macphee had gone to school together and both played football for South Uist team Iochdar Saints.
Several team members, including Mr Macphee, were travelling home from an away match in September 2014 in Downie’s car when tragedy struck.
Downie had just passed his test in the June of that year.
The court heard yesterday that two of Downie’s passengers felt he was going too fast for the often bumpy road.
Prosecutor Allan Nicol added: “One later said how he ‘had a gut feeling that something was going to happen’.
“He grabbed hold of the two front seats and pushed his feet into the floor to tense up.”
After the crash, the occupants of a nearby house dialled 999 as Mr Macphee lay dying on the grass.
The teenager’s dad soon arrived to help his stricken son, along with a paramedic and a local GP.
Mr Macphee was taken to hospital, but suffered a cardiac arrest and never recovered.
He was found to have died from a chest injury as a result of a road traffic collision.
When questioned by police later, Downie said he had “driven a lot” since passing his test, but had not known that stretch of road well.
He estimated his speed to be between 55-60mph at the time.
The court heard that when Downie was asked why the thought the accident had happened, he told officers: “The state of the road being wet and lopsided, that’s it.”
Crash scene investigators said the minimum speed at the time was 51mph. The limit for that stretch of road was 40mph.
It was concluded the responsibility “rests entirely with the driver”.
Defence agent Susan Duff yesterday told the court that Downie will “never forgive himself” for causing his friend’s death.
She added: “He and Carl MacPhee grew up together, went to school together, were friends.
“The milestones they should have had will not now take place. He cannot undo what happened.”
Miss Duff went on to say that Downie and his family wanted to “express how distressed and sorry” they feel for the “grief” caused to Mr Macphee’s relatives.
Judge Lady Scott deferred sentencing on the first offender for reports.
Tragic Mr Macphee had been a promising striker with Iochdar Saints.
A year before his death, the teenager received a man of the match award from Celtic legend Billy McNeill.