Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Woman claims boyfriend told her to ‘run’ after pensioner’s death

The High Court in Aberdeen
The High Court in Aberdeen

A woman told a court today that her boyfriend was teaching her how to drive minutes before the car struck a pensioner who died at a caravan park.

Kylie Johnston, 26, claimed Nathaniel Cooper told her to sit on his knee as they were on their way back to the holiday park from a garage.

She said she was scared because she had never driven a vehicle before and relied on him telling her what to do.

But she claimed her former partner grabbed the steering wheel from her after the back of the car narrowly missed a toilet block as it entered Balthangie Caravan Park at Cumineston.

Miss Johnston, of Stonehaven, said the 4X4 went out of control and then crashed into a static caravan on the site.

The vehicle also struck 65-year-old Andrew MacKay who ended up trapped underneath his holiday home, which moved off its stance, and he died at the scene.

Cooper, 30, of Inverbervie, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of causing the pensioner’s death by driving dangerously on July 21, 2013.

Giving evidence, Miss Johnston said she sat in the driver’s seat after Cooper stopped his car on a lane leading to the caravan site where they were camping.

She said: “He said ‘Come and sit on my knee. I’ll teach you how to drive’.”

“He showed me how to put my foot down on the clutch and the accelerator lightly, that’s what he told me to do and it stalled three times.”

She said she gave up trying to use the pedals after the car stalled on the lane and had just been holding on to the steering wheel afterwards.

Miss Johnston told the court Cooper handled the gearstick and took control of the steering wheel after the car was driven into the holiday park in Aberdeenshire.

She said: “Everything happened so quick. The car was going about all over the place and everything.”

Miss Johnston, who is 4ft 11 inches tall, said she slid down to find the pedals before the car crashed into the caravan.

She added: “The car was going out of control. I was trying to find the brake and remember what he had told me.”

Miss Johnston said the car then crashed into the caravan and the couple both got out of the driver’s door. She said she saw Mr MacKay’s partner when she got out of the vehicle.

She cried as she told the court: “The lady was trying to find her husband and I think Nat found him under the car.

“I followed him.

“At that point he told me to run.”

Advocate depute Andrew Brown asked: “Did you run?”

She replied: “No. He told me to run and I was really sick.

“I was really badly in shock. The world just didn’t feel real at all.”

Defence lawyer David Moggach suggested that Miss Johnston wanted to “bring Mr Cooper down with her”.

But she replied: “No I don’t. I’m telling the truth.

“It was both of our faults.”

The lawyer then suggested that Miss Johnston had driven the car and ended up pressing the wrong pedal.

She replied: “That’s not what happened at all.”

Cooper denies the charge.

The jury has heard that Miss Johnston previously pled guilty to a charge relating to the case and the plea was accepted by the Crown.

The trial continues tomorrow.