Guilty, speeding driver who killed girl, 14, in crash
A TEENAGE driver has admitted causing a crash which claimed the life of one schoolgirl and seriously injured two others.
Owen Petrie, 19, was giving Neringa Narusyte and three other girls a lift home when he clipped a grass verge and smashed his hatchback into an oncoming car.
A court heard Petrie had been reaching ‘excessive’ speeds on winding country roads and that the four female passengers in his Vauxhall Corsa had been seriously concerned about how fast he was driving.
A motorist on the opposite carriageway slammed on his brakes when he saw Petrie’s car in front of him but could do nothing to avoid colliding with the vehicle.
Neringa, 14, from Buckie, Banffshire, died at the scene in the two-car collision.
Petrie admitted causing her death by driving without due care and attention for the road when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court on Tuesday. Two other girls, who were in the back seat, suffered serious injuries in the crash on the B9106 between Keith and Buckie.
Neringa, who was born in Lithuania and had lived in Scotland for ten years, was described in court as a ‘typical teenager who was popular and always smiling’.
Petrie, from Keith, Banffshire, was giving the girls a lift home to Buckie when the crash happened on October 26, 2016.
A court heard that his four passengers were so concerned about how fast he was going that they repeatedly checked his speedometer. Petrie hit 55mph as he drove through Aultmore, where there is a 40mph speed limit, and later told police he had reached speeds of up to 70mph on the twisty road.
It was when he reached a series of sharp bends at Ryeriggs that his car clipped the grass verge, crashing through a road sign and spinning into the path of a car in the opposite carriageway.
Stephen Farquhar, who was driv- ing his Nissan in the opposite direction, told police investigators he braked but could not stop in time.
Fiscal Iain Gray said: ‘Mr Farquhar immediately got out of his car and saw the driver and the frontseat passenger. He heard the accused say, “What have I done?”
‘A care nurse who was travelling on the road at the time stopped to provide assistance while waiting for the emergency services.
‘She recalled the accused saying, “This is my fault. They didn’t have their seatbelts on”.’
Neringa died at the scene while another 14-year-old who was a rear-seat passenger spent three weeks in hospital with a broken neck, multiple rib fractures, a collapsed lung, a fractured pelvis and cut liver.
A 16-year-old girl, who was also travelling in the back seat, suffered a broken collarbone. Both girls have since made a full recovery.
Neither Petrie nor the 17-yearold girl in the front passenger seat suffered serious injuries.
Defence advocate David Moggach declined to offer any mitigation on behalf of his client until the sentencing hearing next month.
‘What have I done? This is my fault’