5 days ago
'I think I have killed mum': Driver's frantic call to dad moments after horror head-on crash
A trapped and injured BMW driver told his father moments after a head-on collision with a lorry on the A9: 'I think I have killed mum'.
Dashcam footage from the HGV and another car captured the moments Gregor MacKay tried to overtake up to four cars in oncoming traffic – with devastating results.
The black BMW was lifted off its wheels and rotated in the air, leaving Karen MacKay with a brain injury, ruptures to her bowel and colon, a fractured leg, a cracked cheekbone and a cracked eye socket.
Her son sobbed in the dock of Inverness Sheriff Court as he pled guilty to driving dangerously on the A9.
Following the court appearance, his father Donald, 64, told The Press and Journal his wife was 'making a great recovery' although his son was 'struggling'.
Mr MacKay said: 'As a family, we would like to thank all the members of the public and emergency services who attended the accident.
'The events of the day were terrible, an accident. I continue to support both Gregor and Karen.'
They had both set off from their home to attend a dental appointment in Inverness on the morning of December 19 2023.
One motorist observed MacKay make what he regarded as a dangerous overtake on the Dornoch Bridge before watching him do the same a short time later with almost tragic results.
Video, complete with a soundtrack of horrific screaming, was played in Inverness Sheriff Court.
It showed the lorry trying to avoid the collision by mounting a grass verge.
However, the BMW was driven straight into the front of the HGV without trying to avoid hitting it, the court was told.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said the driver spoke to witnesses at the A9 crash scene near Delny, outside Invergordon.
'It's my fault', MacKay admitted, adding: 'I went to overtake and didn't realise there was two vehicles in front. I hesitated.'
Mrs Gair said MacKay suffered pelvic injuries, confining him to a wheelchair during recovery.
The prosecutor said his mum 'will have a lifelong disability and may need lifelong care'.
However, Mr MacKay said the prognosis for his wife was more positive.
'It's all coming around. She's making a great recovery,' he said.
'The way she's going, she won't [need lifelong care]. She's cooking, she's doing everything, she's getting on fine.'
Sheriff Gary Aitken told the sobbing offender that he may be jailed.
'It is not often I am lost for words, but the sheer arrogance and stupidity, driving like that on the A9 or anywhere else, is dangerous. It beggars belief,' he said.
'It was gross stupidity. There was plenty of room to get back in. What if it had been a mother and child in a Mini?
'It is a miracle that either of you are still alive at all. Poor driving can have catastrophic consequences, and it has changed your mother's life.
'A custodial sentence must be a real possibility here.'
The sheriff deferred sentencing MacKay, of The Avenue, Reay, in Caithness, until September 1 for a background report.
He was disqualified from driving in the meantime and had his bail continued.
