Driver tells of horror rally crash that killed woman fan
He heard loud bang then car ‘somersaulted in air’
A RALLY driver has told an inquiry of the moment his car somersaulted in the air before landing on a woman in a fatal accident.
Graeme Schoneville recalled hearing ‘a loud bang’ when his Honda Civic hit a rock as he competed at the Snowman Rally near Inverness.
After the car came to a stop he was aware of a ‘commotion’ as it became apparent ‘somebody was potentially under the car’.
Nursery teacher Joy Robson, 51, died of multiple injuries sustained in the accident in February 2013. An eight-year-old boy was also injured.
A joint fatal accident inquiry is examining the circumstances surrounding her death and the deaths of three other fans at the Jim Clark Rally near Coldstream in the Borders the following year.
Mr Schoneville, 31, from Lanarkshire, told the first day of evidence at Edinburgh Sheriff Court of the moment the incident unfolded.
He said: ‘We came to a corner and the road surface changed and the car began to slide, which was okay, we’d experienced that plenty of times.
‘As I tried to correct the slide, the car then swung in the other direction and impacted a rock.’
He added that all he can then remember ‘was a loud bang’ at the back left hand side of the car.
He said: ‘It just went black inside, the car just somersaulted in the air. I can remember it rolling: sky, then dark, sky.’
The witness said the car landed on its wheels among some small trees. He and his navigator were unhurt, but they immediately became ‘aware of a lot of people round the car’.
‘We could see a commotion and we knew that somebody was potentially under the car. That’s why we exited the car as quickly as possible,’ he explained.
The people surrounding the car were attempting to lift it, he said.
Advocate depute Andrew Brown QC, for the Crown, asked him: ‘Presumably you were very concerned?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied.
The driver became aware later that day that a woman had died and a child had been injured in the accident, the inquiry heard. Mr Schoneville, who began rallying in 2006, said he has not competed since the incident, adding: ‘I tried to, it never felt the same.’
The inquiry also heard that there were no mechanical defects with the car but that the gravel track was wet at the time.
Mr Schoneville said the event has always been popular with fans. He added: ‘I had no concern about the route, but there were a lot of spectators.’
Asked why this concerned him, he said: ‘There were more than usual. Because of the areas where they were standing, close to the route and people walking up the road.’
Co-driver Michael Hendry, 26, also recalled the car being ‘launched’ into the air. He said: ‘I just remember the car rolling several times down the road.’
He said he asked Mr Schoneville if he was okay and said he remembered people surrounding the car.
‘Was it traumatic for you?’ asked Mr Brown. ‘Yes,’ the witness replied, adding he was ‘in shock’ after learning a woman had died.
The inquiry, before Sheriff Kenneth Maciver QC, continues.
‘We could see a commotion’