Idiots admit dropping couch onto beautician
Victim tells of her relief as she tries to recover from devastating injuries
A BEAUTICIAN left seriously injured when she was crushed by a falling sofa yesterday welcomed guilty pleas by the men who dropped it from a rooftop.
Edita Butkeviciute, 31, was treated for a fractured spine and injuries to her legs and lungs following the horrific incident in Aberdeen.
At the city’s sheriff court yesterday, solicitors acting for Barrie Law, 27, and Lee Morrison, 33, entered guilty pleas in their absence to acting culpably and recklessly.
Edita, who is originally from Lithuania, needed surgery for multiple broken bones, including a fractured spine, broken thigh and broken ankle.
After the hearing, she said in a statement through Digby Brown Solicitors: “It’s been more than a year since my injuries and I still have metal plates in my spine.
“I’m in pain every day, cannot sit straight for longer than 40 minutes and I’m not able to go back to work.
“I am glad these two men admitted what happened so other people can learn an important lesson.
“You can’t go about throwing things from windows – people can get seriously hurt and what happened to me proves that.”
Edita, a former chef, had gone outside during her lunch break at Nailco Nail Bar where she worked in Aberdeen’s Union Street on December 7, 2019.
She was on the phone to her partner Daniel Ferreira when she was knocked out by the falling three-seater sofa and the line went dead.
Edita lay underneath the sofa for 40 minutes before a passer-by heard her screams and ran to her aid.
Offshore worker Law and Morrison, both from Aberdeen, were moving the sofa at the time.
Speaking in the wake of the incident, Edita, who lives in Aberdeen, said: “I remember just waking up, I screamed really loud for help and started feeling cold. I couldn’t move.
“I am very lucky to be alive.”
Sentencing was deferred for reports.