A young motorist told police he drank three bottles of Buckfast before he drove around the north-east looking for a friend who had allegedly been abducted.
Jamielee Finnie admitted he was drunk when he drove to the Ban Car Hotel at Lonmay and discovered his pal’s car abandoned outside, with its driver’s side window smashed.
In a police statement, Mr Finnie said he became worried for missing Alexander Fraser and drove on to Peterhead to search for him.
Andrew Waddell, 26, is on trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court, accused of assaulting and abducting 20-year-old Mr Fraser in April, last year.
Giving evidence, Mr Finnie said he remembered nothing about the night of the alleged incident, because he was involved in a serious car accident last May which affected his long-term memory.
However, he accepted he had given a statement to police at the time and insisted he would have told them the truth.
The court heard Mr Finnie had met Waddell and another man, Michael Buchan, outside a property in Sandhaven that night.
He told police: “At this time, my phone rang and it was Sandy (Mr Fraser). I was supposed to meet him to lend him £20.
“Sandy told me he was at the Ban Car Hotel and was going to wait there for his money.”
Mr Fraser said he didn’t mention out loud where Mr Fraser was, but Waddell and Mr Buchan were standing next to him.
The pair were said to have been looking for Mr Fraser in connection with a haul of stolen goods.
Waddell and Mr Buchan then got into a white van and drove off, the court heard.
Mr Finnie, 24, told police he and a female passenger then went to the Ban Car, but there was no sign of his friend.
“When we got there, Sandy’s red Fiesta was parked at the side of the hotel, but he was nowhere to be seen,” Mr Finnie said in his statement.
“I saw that the driver’s window was smashed and I was worried.”
He then drove to garages in Peterhead’s Gadle Braes and saw the van and about 10 people.
Mr Finnie told police: “I had been drinking earlier on that night. I had three bottles of Buckfast.”
He then said he “couldn’t really remember seeing Sandy” at the garages, but added that he was sure he had a mark on the left side of his face.
“It looked like he had been crying,” he added.
Under cross examination by solicitor Brian Allison, Mr Finnie accepted that that part of his statement didn’t make sense.
The trial, before Sheriff Andrew Miller, continues.