Head-on collision motorist guilty of dangerous driving

Ajury has found a man guilty of dangerous driving after a head-on smash that left a 19-yearold scooter rider paralysed from the chest down.

Brendan Gall, 34, was on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of causing serious injury by dangerous driving over the devastating collision on the B994 Kintore to Kemnay road.

Gall denied seriously injuring Oskar Sumera by driving at excessive speeds for the conditions and road layout.

He also denied a charge of driving without insurance.

Mr Sumera was on a lifesupport machine following the crash on October 20 2018 and has needed to use a wheelchair ever since.

The jury took around an hour to deliver a majority guilty verdict on the dangerous driving charge and a unanimous one on the insurance charge.

Following the verdict, Sheriff Philip Mann told Gall: “You have been found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving by the jury, that is a very serious charge, Mr Gall.

“To help me decide how to deal with you, I will call for a criminal justice social work report.

“I think it’s only fair to say all sentencing options will have to be considered by the court, given the seriousness of the offence and, in particular, the seriousness of the injuries sustained by Mr Sumera.”

The sheriff deferred sentence until later this month and disqualified Gall from driving in the meantime.

Defence agent John McLeod reserved mitigation until the sentencing hearing.

PC Calum Jamieson, who carried out a crash investigation, told the court the surface on the bends prior to where the collision occurred was “defective”.

“As soon as I had conducted my skid tests on the night of the collision, the roads policing sergeant was made aware that the coefficient of sliding friction was abnormally low,” he said.

The court saw an extract of his investigation report that confirmed: “Skid tests showed a defective road surface cannot be ruled out as a factor in the collision”.

But it also stated: “Unattentiveness or excess speed was the most likely reason for Brendan Gall to have lost control of his vehicle.”

During the trial, the jury was told of series of emotional texts Gall sent in the aftermath of the head-on crash.

Gall, of Victoria Street, Dyce, had messaged a friend saying: “I think we killed someone.

“I crashed my car tonight. “Head-on into a boy on his scooter.”

DENIED CHARGES: The sheriff banned Gall from driving and advised him all sentencing options were on the table.