A rental car delivery driver has gone on trial accused of falling asleep behind the wheel and killing a north-east grandmother on Mother’s Day.
Alin Jar is accused of driving dangerously while under the influence of morphine, falling asleep at the wheel and crossing into the wrong carriageway, colliding with another car.
The passenger of the other vehicle, 57-year-old Jamesina Stewart, from Elgin, died at the scene.
Her daughter, Amanda Todd, was also injured in the crash on the A90 Aberdeen to Fraserburgh road, near the Toll of Birness.
Jar, of Clifton Road, Aberdeen, denies the charge of death by dangerous driving, and yesterday went on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Daniel Novotny, a supervisor at car rental specialists Assured Group Ltd, told the jury that Jar had been delivering a car at the time of the incident on March 6, 2016.
Advocate depute Bernard Ablett referred Mr Novotny to his police statement, which suggested that Jar had been suffering from toothache at the time – so had taken some painkillers that morning.
Mr Ablett asked him: “Did you tell the police ‘On Sunday, March 6 in the evening I went to see Alin in hospital’.
“You go on to day he did not remember what had happened, he remembered that he had toothache in the morning of the accident and that he had taken painkillers.
“It goes on to say he maybe had a moment when his eyes closed for a minute, which he had had before.”
Mr Novotny replied: “That’s what I remember.”
Ms Stewart’s daughter also gave evidence yesterday, and told the jury they had been with family in Mintlaw.
Mrs Todd said that just after she passed the Toll of Birness, another car veered into her carriageway and hit her car.
She said: “A car out of a blink came out right in front of me.
“I would say it was two thirds on my side of the lane at the time of impact.”
The advocate depute asked she thought he caused the collision, to which she replied: “The other driver, it was unavoidable. He was in the wrong lane.”
Ms Stewart, who was known as Ina to her friends, died at the scene.
She had recently moved to a new home in Elgin with her partner David Smith.
The “dedicated mum and loving person”had been out with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren for a pre-Mother’s Day get-together when the accident happened.
