A man has been found guilty of causing the death of a Moray grandmother through dangerous driving.
Alin Jar was transporting a Vauxhall Meriva as part of his job as a car rental delivery driver on the A90 Aberdeen to Fraserburgh Road but went onto the opposing carriageway as he approached the Toll of Birness.
In doing so he forced one car to mount the verge in order to avoid him and then hit a vehicle being driven by Amanda Todd and caused the death of Jamesina Stewart – her mother who was in the back seat.
During the course of the trial at Aberdeen High Court Mrs Todd said he came “two-thirds of the way” on to her side of the road and as well as killing her mother the crash had left her with permanent injuries.
The jury of nine women and six men took just over two hours to find him guilty of dangerous driving.
The 31-year-old was also accused of driving at excessive speeds and under the influence of morphine however these parts of the charge were dropped by the jury.
Numerous other witnesses testified to his erratic driving style during the incident on March 5, 2016 with Peter Farrell, who was forced to drive off the road to avoid colliding with him, referring to him as a “nutcase.”
Following the jury’s verdict advocate depute Bernard Ablett revealed the devastating crime was not Jar’s first motoring offence.
He said: “His first conviction was on June 7, 2014 – that was speeding at 72 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour limit between Keith and Huntly, he was given three penalty points.
“The second conviction relates to speeding at 54 miles per hour in a 30 zone, he got five penalty points so he had eight penalty points.”
Jar’s defence counsel David Moggach asked for sentence to be deferred to allow reports to be prepared.
Lord Woolman granted this request and remanded Jar, of Clifton Road in Aberdeen, in custody.
Ms Stewart, who had recently moved to Elgin with her partner, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jar will be sentenced at Glasgow High Court in June.
