A burns victim got behind the wheel after hitting the bottle to help him cope with his injuries.
Kyle Stewart subjected his passenger to a “terrifying” journey as he “repeatedly” swerved across country roads near Elgin.
The ordeal only came to an end when he overturned his silver Ford Fiesta into a field.
Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday heard that Siobhan Munro was injured after the car flipped “three or four times”.
She described Stewart’s driving as “mental” when later interviewed by police.
The incident took place at 8pm on Friday, August 5, last year.
Fiscal, Alex Swain, said: “Miss Munro described a change in the accused’s driving while heading down an unclassified backroad.
“She felt so terrified as the vehicle reached 70mph that she was hanging on to the door handle.
“As Stewart began to swerve across the whole road, he hit a verge and lost control of the car.
“It rolled three or four times into a field, and the accused was ejected from the vehicle.”
The court heard that the car left the road near Upper Meft Farm, north of Lhanbryde.
Ms Swain said Stewart was left “going in and out of consciousness”, while Miss Munro suffered cuts to her face and whiplash to her neck.
A sample of Stewart’s blood was later found to contain 90miligrammes of alcohol per 100mililitres – almost double the legal limit of 50.
The 25-year-old appeared on remand at the court, having been jailed for assault in February.
He admitted driving his Fiesta “without due care and attention”.
He further plead guilty to driving at excessive speeds, failing to keep his vehicle under control, “repeatedly” crossing the carriageway, striking a verge and causing his car to “repeatedly overturn”.
The court heard Stewart was severely burned in a fire at a caravan park in 2010 and required several operations, skin grafts and plastic surgery to reconstruct his head and upper body.
His solicitor, Stephen Carty, said his ordeal continued to haunt him.
Mr Carty said: “That has had an affect physically and mentally, last year he was at a very low ebb and had been drinking too much.”
Stewart had been held in prison for four weeks beyond his release date while this case was pending.
He was sentenced to perform 75 hours of unpaid work, banned from driving for a year and fined £200.