Court hearing
AN OBAN woman cleared of killing her partner in a car crash in 2013 will have to pay his family damages following a civil case.
AN OBAN mother of three who was cleared of killing her partner in a car crash on the A85 near Connel in August 2013 has been told she will have to pay his grieving family damages after a second court ruled she failed to prove her negligence did not cause the accident.
Veteran Vincent Kennedy, 32, died after Veronica MacKenzie collided with another vehicle in the accident which also claimed the life of an elderly woman from Fort William who was a passenger in the other car.
MacKenzie, 36, was cleared of causing Mr Kennedy and Mary Gillies’ death by careless driving following a trial in 2015.
But last week the case went before Edinburgh’s Court of Session after Mr Kennedy’s sister Nina raised a civil action.
She claimed the accident was caused by MacKenzie’s negligence and not the slippery conditions described at the criminal trial.
Oban Sheriff Court had previously heard from MacKenzie that the road was wet on the day of the crash and that she was unable to avoid the collision.
Her solicitor claimed that in the three years leading up to the accident, Transport Scotland annually checked the road conditions at the scene of the crash and found skid resistance ‘very low’, but failed to upgrade it.
But judge Lord Uist last week said she was to blame and she now faces having to pay Mr Kennedy’s family for the loss, injury and damage they sustained as a result of his death.
Lord Uist will decide later this year on how much they should receive.
He said in his judgement, published last week: ‘No other driver experienced a skid causing an accident over a period of about seven years.
‘That fact is, to me, a very strong indication that, at the time of the accident, the road was not so slippery as to be the sole cause of a vehicle going into a skid there.
‘In these circumstances the defender has failed to discharge the burden upon her of establishing that the cause of the accident was something other than her negligence.
‘I shall find the defender liable to make reparation to the pursuers and continue the cause for a proof on quantum of damages.’
Glen Millar, a partner with Thompsons Solicitors who represents MacKenzie, said: ‘Ms MacKenzie continues a long fight back to full fitness from her own devastating, life-threatening injuries while at the same time dealing with the loss of her beloved partner and bringing up the couple’s three young children alone.
‘She has taken strength from Lord Uist’s decision and from the fact that, for a second time, after hearing all evidence relative to the accident a court was unable to make any specific finding of negligence by her.’
It is not known if Mr Kennedy’s stepson and two children with MacKenzie will benefit from the action.