NIGHTMARE OF EXPAT IN CYCLE CRASH HORROR
Dad will finally face killer motorist in Spanish court
Gerard Couzens
Mangled metal litters the road in a shocking image which only begins to convey the full horror of a road smash that shattered so many lives.
Out of picture, three men lay dead or dying. Two others, including Aberdeen-born expat Scott Gordon, 49, were maimed.
Six hundred yards away, the driver whose car ploughed into six cyclists on a Sunday morning ride was slumped by the side of her Ford Mondeo, head down, her tattooed arms and hands dripping with blood.
Mavi Sanchez, 31, had spent the night partying, was four times the drinkdrive limit and had taken cocaine.
But now, three-and-a-half years on, she may walk free when she finally faces court next May. She could get a maximum four years but has already spent a year on remand – and lawyers will argue she should not be sent back.
After enduring 17 operations and a rollercoaster of physical and mental toil, this news is hard for Scott to take.
The oil worker, who moved to Spain in 2013, said: “It is such a disgrace that four years is the maximum sentence for the pain and suffering she’s caused.
“I hope she gets the maximum. Whatever punishment this woman ends up getting is not going to change the fact she’s killed three people and ruined the lives of two others.
“She caused a life-changing event which will stay with me for the rest of my days. I feel resentment towards her for what she’s taken away from me.
“It ’s human. I want to look her in the eye.”
Dad
Scott’s world changed on May 17, 2017 as he and fellow triathletes from a club in Javea navigated the N-322 road near the Costa Blanca town of Oliva.
Waitress Sanchez – full name Maria Vicenta Sanchez Vaquero – who was banned from driving for eight months after failing a breath test in 2013, had been out partying all night.
She told police she had crossed to the wrong side of the road.
Friends described her as a poor student who f litted between jobs. She and her family offered condolences to the victims’ loved ones at the time. But shortly after her release on bail from a year-long prison r ema n d , a picture of her enjoying herself at a disco caused widespread revulsion.
At that point, Scott faced a long and arduous recovery. He barely had a pulse when help arrived and remembers nothing about the crash.
He needed a full blood transfusion and was in an induced coma for 19 days. He had a broken jaw, broken femur and tibia bones in both legs, a broken right arm and collapsed lung. After initial operations, an infection in his femur meant possible amputation.
His saviour was renowned surgeon Pedro Cavadas, dubbed Doctor Miracle, whose pioneering interventions include the first double leg transplant. Scott went to him after two bone grafts failed and his left leg ended up 6in shorter than the right – where medics took away poisoned bone.
Dr Cavadas’s first op lasted 12 hours, removing a bone from his right leg to be implanted into his left. More procedures followed. His 17th op was in February this year, after he broke his left leg in a fall in the shower.
Scott, who moved to Spain with wife Corinne and daughters Ruby, 14, and Evie, 13, said: “It will be more than four years by the time this goes to trial and I just want to put it behind me. I’ve had to accept I’ll never be the same again.
“I loved participating in triathlons. My body is scarred, my knee doesn’t bend fully, I have a permanent limp and limited feeling on the left side of my leg and face. Running is out of the question. I’ll never be able to compete again because of the unbearable pain in my knee and ankle after cycling.
“The first time I went on a bike was after my last op. Memories flooded back and I started crying. I’ve suffered psychologically and physically. I feel lucky to be alive and certainly luckier than the three friends who weren’t given a second chance – but why should I be happy with that?”
Eduardo Monfort, 28, died instantly. Jose Antonio Albi, 28, died days later. Andres Contreras was critically injured and his dad Luis Alberto, 53, died.
Andres said: “No one will return my father and friends or remove the pain Scott and I will suffer for life. I will go to the trial. I want to witness the woman who killed my father answer quest ions to see whether she appreciates the damage she’s done.”
Oscar Anton, Scott’s lawyer, said: “The maximum sentence is four years but the Spanish penal system is rightsbased and considers many factors. The court has reports saying the driver would be damaged by a prison return. It pales into insignificance in terms of the victims’ suffering.”