A nursery teacher died after being thrown 35 metres along a pavement when she was struck on her back by a lorry’s protruding stabiliser leg, a court has heard.
Chloe Morrison suffered multiple fatal injuries as she walked with her mother near Drumnadrochit on October 25 2019.
John O’Donnell, 52, has denied causing the 26-year-old’s death by driving a lorry dangerously on the A82.
On the first day of his trial at the High Court in Inverness, the jury were told that O’Donnell, of Crossover Road in Inverurie, passed Ms Morrison in his HGV, which was carrying a crane, near Kerrowdown.
The judge Lord Stuart heard that several facts have been jointly agreed between the prosecution and defence.
It was accepted that O’Donnell failed to observe that the stabiliser leg – known as an outrigger – was fully extended and held in a position over the pavement when he struck Ms Morrison.
He was travelling at 49mph and ran over her leg, the court was told.
She died from injuries to her head, chest, abdomen and pelvis, which caused fractures to her skull, vertebrae, ribs, and brain stem.
Not licensed to operate crane
The jury heard that O’Donnell was not licensed or trained to operate the lorry loader crane.
He was travelling from Kilmuir Cemetery on the Isle of Skye back to his employer’s base in Oldmeldrum after delivering ducts for fibre optic cabling.
The jury was told that he had only started work with Glenevin Construction a few days earlier.
It’s alleged that O’Donnell unlocked and used the “outrigger legs” on the loader of the HGV and that he repeatedly failed to use his wing mirrors to see that one leg was “insecure”.
It’s also claimed that one of the legs was “protruding” and almost hit someone on the A82 at Drumnadrochit prior to ending up in a locked position and fully extended over the pavement, killing Ms Morrison.
Retail worker 54-year-old Laura Cowie said she was travelling west on the A82 when she saw the lorry stopped on the road.
She told the trial: “I thought it may have hit an animal but then I could make out the figure of a person.
“The lorry driver was in a state, his head in his hands and then he fell onto the side of the road. He collapsed in a state of shock.
“I said to him not to look. He couldn’t believe what had happened and said when he stopped on the other side of Drumnadrochit he did a walk-round of the lorry.”
Fateful journey
Health and Safety adviser Darren van der Boon was working for Glenevin Construction when O’Donnell joined and gave him an induction course.
The former HGV driver said that O’Donnell checked the vehicle on October 24 – the day he set off on the fateful journey.
Asked by defence QC Tony Graham to comment on the check, Mr van der Boon replied: “He did well. He spent over 15 minutes doing it. If he had taken shortcuts, I would have stopped him from going out”.
However, he told advocate depute David Dickson that he did not see if the driver had checked the outrigger legs.
He added that he did not know if the lorry was equipped with audible alarms to alert the driver if the crane was not housed properly or the outriggers were extended.
The trial, which is expected to last all of this week, continues.
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