Killer driver walks free after sheriff ’s hands are tied by sof t-touch justice
A DRIVER who killed a nurse in a crash has walked free after a sheriff said he could not jail him under sentencing guidelines.
Peter Dunnachie struck Iain Wyatt as the 43-year-old rode his motorbike at a roundabout on May 30, 2020.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that Mr Wyatt was on a Honda motorbike at the roundabout at Glasgow’s Baillieston near the M73 when Dunnachie entered from a slip road.
Mr Wyatt, a police forensic nurse, had tried to avoid the almost head-on collision by leaning on his side, creating scuff marks on the tarmac from his trainers. Witnesses saw him ‘wobble’ before a loud bang and he was found lying on the road. The grandfather of three’s injuries included a bleed to the brain and a fractured spine. He was declared dead at the scene.
Dunnachie, 45, of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. Brian Cooney, defending, told the court: ‘He is not in a position to say how he didn’t see the motorbike. The explanation is he looked and he didn’t see it.
‘The consequences of this are extremely unimaginable.’
Prosecutor Lauren Staunton said Dunnachie ‘entered the roundabout when it was unsafe to do so’.
Sheriff Joseph Platt said he was bound by sentencing guidelines which stopped him jailing Dunnachie.
He ordered him to do 210 hours of unpaid work and disqualified him from driving for two years and three months.
SOFT TOUCH JUSTICE
Dunnachie, who will lose his job as a driver, was also tagged for six months.
The sheriff said: ‘Mr Wyatt lost his life and all that offered him. He had a rich life and that ended with an action that was difficult to explain.
‘The family’s statements say no sentence passed can be appropriate for what they have suffered. Having regard to the sentencing guidelines and provisions relating to someone who has not served a custodial sentence before, it is a matter of law that a community sentence must be imposed.’
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘This case involved a loss of life at a tragically young age and my thoughts are with Mr Wyatt’s family, who will still be grieving his death.
‘All too often in the SNP’s soft touch justice system, the needs of the perpetrators are put ahead of those of the victims, which is unacceptable.’