A police officer has told a court a driver killed in a north-east car crash was on the correct side of the road when the accident happened.
Sergeant Kelly Manson was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Pauline Flynn.
The 36-year-old is accused of causing the death of former art teacher Harry McPherson by driving carelessly on the A952 Toll of Birness-Mintlaw road at Clola on the night of October 3, 2014.
Flynn, of 3 Sutherland Close, Mintlaw, is alleged to have veered on to the wrong side of the road and hit Mr McPherson’s Vauxhall Corsa.
The 61-year-old died at the scene and his wife Patricia, who was a passenger in his car, suffered serious leg and head injuries.
Flynn had been travelling to Aberdeen to pick up her then-boyfriend around 10.20pm and told a police officer that Mr McPherson was driving in the middle of the road.
But collision investigator Sgt Manson told the jury at Peterhead Sheriff Court yesterday that she had concluded it was Flynn who was on the wrong side of the road at the point of impact.
She said she was in no doubt about her findings.
She described the crash as “clearly quite violent”, and said that when the northbound Corsa collided with Flynn’s southbound Ford Focus C-Max it spun to face back towards Aberdeen before sliding down a verge and landing on top of a fence.
Sgt Manson said she found no evidence of either driver attempting to brake prior to the smash, which created three gouges on the northbound lane.
“Upon impact, the vehicles would have been forced down,” she added.
She conceded it was possible that one of the drivers may have become confused and contributed to the collision..
She added: “I don’t know what happened prior to it, or who would have been confused, but it happened in the northbound lane.
“I have no idea what either driver has done prior to the collision.
“Certainly, the Corsa was within its correct lane.”
The trial continues.
