Driver swerved into path of ex’s vehicle
A Campbeltown man has been found guilty of swerving his car towards an oncoming car being driven by his former partner.
Darren Simon, 38, of 3 Killean Place, Campbeltown, pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving dangerously by intentionally crossing the carriageway into the path of a motor vehicle on August 21 last year.
The woman driver, who is his ex-partner, was returning home to Campbeltown after a weekend away for work when she noticed Simon’s car travelling out of town. A colleague was travelling with her as a front seat passenger. The incident happened on the A83 near to Drum Cottages.
‘He swerved onto my side of the road, swerved back onto his side of the road and carried on driving,’ his former partner said during the first part of his trial, which was heard at the November sitting of Campbeltown Sheriff Court last year.
Her passenger said of the event: ‘I’d say there was a car’s length between us. The driver’s side of the [his] car was on our side of the road.
‘I thought what the **** is he playing at because the car crossed into our path.’
The case for the defence was heard this week, on Monday.
Simon’s solicitor, Graeme Wright, said that the relationship between Simon and his former partner had been amicable at first but then became ‘toxic’.
Simon told the court that the incident did not take place and that the two women, who were also friends, were not telling the truth.
While accepting he was on the road that day he said: ‘I can’t even remember the journey; it was unremarkable.’
Sheriff Patrick Hughes found Simon guilty of a lesser offence of driving without reasonable consideration for other road users.
He fined Simon £300 and disqualified him from driving for four months; in doing so the sheriff said he was sending a clear message to drivers that ‘conduct of this type will not be tolerated’.