Date set for trial over crash that killed Wick toddler
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A sheriff has expressed surprise about the fact that the Crown carried out a black box investigation on one vehicle involved in a fatal crash in Caithness but not the other.
Speaking at Wick this week, Sheriff Neil Wilson said that the Crown had gone to "considerable efforts" to recover telematics evidence from a Nissan Qashqai driven by Sonya Henderson – who is accused of careless driving and causing the death of two-year-old Iain Mackay – but did not have a similar investigation carried out on the other vehicle involved, a Peugeot 208.
The sheriff stressed that it was "not my role" to tell the Crown what they should investigate but said he found it "surprising".
Earlier, Fiscal Niall MacDonald reaffirmed the Crown's position that it did not intend to have a telematics examination of the Peugeot 208 carried out.
Solicitor James Mackay, for Henderson, said it was "unfair" of the Crown not to have had a telematics assessment carried out on both vehicles and commented: "There does seem to be a lack of even-handedness here."
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Mr Mackay said that one of his colleagues had been trying to get the Crown to produce black box reports on both vehicles but it had said no.
Henderson (42), of Main Street, Lybster, denies the indictment. It alleges that she failed to maintain proper observation and caused her Nissan Qashqai to enter the opposing carriageway into the path of the oncoming Peugeot 208, driven by Savannah Nixey, and failed to brake, whereby both vehicles were damaged.
The accident occurred at Occumster on August 22, 2021.
Sheriff Wilson said that with sheriff and jury trials being returned to the outlying courts and with three such cases scheduled to be heard at Wick this year, he would fix December 9 as the date for Henderson's trial.
He asked the prosecution and defence to keep the court informed of progress in their case preparations.
