Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Drink-driver sent to prison for two years
A DRINK-driver who left two teenagers with devastating head injuries after causing a five-vehicle crash on the A90 has been jailed for two years.
Stuart Mackenzie, 31, drove at speed into the back of his victims’ car which had been stopped at roadworks, causing a “domino-like collision”.
He hit the rear of the teenagers’ Volkswagen, punching them forward into the car in front. In all, five vehicles were shunted into one another.
The 19-year-old driver of the car and his young female passenger were trapped and had to be freed by emergency services.
The driver spent 10 days in the neurological ward at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, while the girl, then 16, suffered a fractured skull.
Further tests revealed a “high-energy injury” to her brain, damage to her vertebrae and numerous other broken bones.
As Mackenzie appeared for sentencing in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court, it emerged the accident could have lifelong consequences for the girl and her surgeon thought she would experience “long-term cognitive problems”.
Other motorists were said to have suffered whiplash.
A roadside breath test after the accident showed Mackenzie had 93mics of alcohol in his system, more than four times the 22mic legal limit.
Mackenzie, of Calder Glen Courts in Airdrie, admitted driving a van dangerously on the A90 between Invergowrie and Longforgan on February 20 last year while impaired by alcohol.
Sheriff Gillian Wade said there was “no alternative” to a prison sentence, highlighting the level of dangerous driving and seriousness of the injuries sustained by his victims. Mackenzie was also banned from driving for five years.