Frenchman denies causing Caithness death crash
A SCHOOL teacher who was driving a car which was involved in a collision which killed a colleague denied in evidence that she had strayed towards the centre of the road before the crash near Thurso.
Elizabeth Wheeler was driving her boss Kevin Costello from Thurso to Wick to a farewell celebration with colleagues from Wick High School when her Puegeot car was involved in a head on smash with a Citroen camper van being driven in the opposite direction by French tourist Marc Combe.
Mr Costello, who was (47) was fatally injured in the accident last August at Weydale on the A9 between Thurso and Wick.
Miss Wheeler, a 31 year-old chemistry teacher told the court she had secured a job in America and she was at the wheel when her car collided with Combe’s van.
Combe (61) has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Mr Costello, of St Ola Drive, Scrabster by driving dangerously and colliding with an oncoming vehicle on August 16, 2011, colliding with Miss Wheeler’s vehicle causing it to overturn whereby Ms Wheeler was severely injured and Mr Costello was so severely injured he died.
Miss Wheeler said Mr Costello was head of science and was her boss and they were due to meet up with her colleagues at 7.30pm. The accident happened just a few miles from Thurso just after 7pm
She said she was driving at about 60mph and had seen the oncoming van a couple of miles away, but lost sight of it because of the lay out of the road.
She said she was coming round a bend when she saw it coming straight towards her.
“I couldn’t recognise it was a camper van. It was just this white and blue object coming towards me.”
Miss Wheeler, who is now working in North Carolina and flew in from the US to give evidence, added: “There was an impact and my car flipped.”
She said when her car came to a stop she was suspended upside down by her seatbelt but she remained conscious.
She described how she looked to her left to check on Mr Costello and shouted at him but got no reply. She tried to raise the alarm by hitting the horn but it didn’t work.
The court heard passing motorists went to help and one man went to Miss Wheeler and told her friend was fine and she needed to stay calm.
Asked by defence counsel Shahid Latif if she could have been distracted but she said she was not.
“I was focussed on the road but also listening to Kevin. I remember seeing it (the camper van) a couple of minutes before the crash in the distance as I was scanning the road.”
Then the vehicle went out of view.
Asked if she braked to avoid the collision she replied: “No I knew a crash was happening.”
She said it all happened in seconds.
Mr Shahid asked if it was possible her own car had traversed towards the centre line of the road.
“My recollection is it had not,” she replied.
She acknowledged she could not be 100 per cent but added: “As far as I am aware I was on the correct side of the road and hadn’t drifted.
Miss Wheeler was taken to Caithness General Hospital where she was treated from a broken collar bone and elbow and later airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. She was treated at the scene for a cut to her head by a paramedic and as a result of her injuries she was off work for six months. Miss Wheeler said she was unable to take up the job offer in America because of her injuries and Wick High School rescinded her resignation and she continued working there until this year when she secured a job in North Carolina.
PC Jamie Farquhar (28) who was one of the first police officers on the scene said he was able to converse a little with Combe in French.
The police officer said when he arrived at the scene he checked the passenger side of the vehicle where Mr Costello was trapped in the wreckage.
“I formed the opinion he couldn’t be saved,” said PC Farquhar.
He said his knowledge of the French language was limited but it came back to him sufficiently to have a conversation with Combe who he said was clearly very upset.
“I can’t remember the specifics of the conversation. He said he was driving north on the left hand side and a red car had come towards him towards the centre of the road and it was being driven to fast.”
The police officer said Combe told him he reacted as he would have in France and swerved to the right and the collision occurred.
Euan Dillon (36) a Dounreay physics surveyor from Halkirk described how he came across the crash scene and parked his truck in the road with its hazard lights on to alert oncoming traffic.
He said when he checked on Mr Costello he saw ‘enough to know there was not much I could do’.
But he went to the driver’s side and told Miss Wheeler everything would be OK. When the first police officer arrived he said he told him the driver was speaking but there was the potential there had been a fatality.
Cross-examined he said Combe was very shaken and emotional.
“I wanted to give him to comfort him,” said Mr Dillon.
“He wanted to help but there wasn’t anything anyone could do.”
The trial continues.