A drink-and-drugs-fuelled driver ignored “petrified” pleas to slow down moments before a devastating fireball crash that left a teenager paralysed.
David Will was “showing off” to his two passengers when he hit speeds of 120mph on the A93 near Peterculter while under the influence of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine, a court heard.
Will’s high-powered Audi overturned and burst into flames after he lost control and barrelled into a dry stone wall.
Front seat passenger Owen Emslie – who was 18 at the time and had never met Will before that night – was pulled from the burning wreckage but will never walk again.
He was at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to hear Sheriff Morag McLaughlin tell Will that a prison sentence is “inevitable”.
The court was told Will met Mr Emslie and Daniel Inglis, 19, outside a Peterculter pub just after closing time on July 31 2021 and, after they showed an interest in the performance of his car, he offered to take them for a drive.
Witnesses in the Richmond Arms had previously seen Will drink “a few pints of beer and some rose wine” during the evening and said he appeared to be “really drunk”.
He drove them westwards on the dark and wet A93 Peterculter-to-Drumoak road and over the Rob Roy Bridge, where his passengers soon noticed he was travelling at speeds topping 120mph.
‘I told the driver to slow down and stop the car, I want out’
Recalling the events later, Mr Emslie told police: “He appeared to be showing off. He appeared to be shouting and screaming like he was hyping himself up to go quicker.
“He was going that quickly that he was having to cut onto the other side of the road to go around the bends. I realised he might be on alcohol or drugs at this point.
“I said to Daniel he should put his seatbelt on, and he did. I told the driver to slow down and stop the car, I want out. He didn’t answer me.
“I kept repeating this and he just didn’t answer me. I ended up just gripping on as we drove. At this point his driving was nuts.
“At this point I was petrified. I had made it as clear to the driver as I could that I wanted out of the car but he did not stop.”
As Will approached a right-hand bend the nearside tyres of the car went into the grass verge and Will began to lose control of the vehicle.
The Audi ploughed into a dry stone wall for around 15 metres, colliding with trees, before coming to rest on its roof.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton said: “Witnesses travelling along the road came across the vehicle a short time later and contacted the emergency services.
“As they approached, they saw that the car had caught fire and the fire was quickly spreading throughout the vehicle.”
Those passersby noted that Will and the other passenger were free of the car but Mr Emslie was trapped.
They managed to free him of his seatbelt and drag him from the vehicle moments before it was “consumed by fire”.
All three were treated at the scene and taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
At 3am the same night, Will provided a double-the-limit alcohol test while a saliva swab showed he was also over the limit for both cannabis and cocaine.
Will told officers: “I was the driver. I’ve been drinking and taking other things, cocaine and cannabis.”
‘They knew what they were getting into’
However, during a later police interview, he backtracked on that admission and denied having consumed any alcohol or drugs.
He said that he did not know either of the men he had taken for a drive, but admitted that he was “showing off” and had been driving too fast.
But he tried to shift the blame onto his two passengers, claiming they “knew what they were getting themselves into”.
The fiscal added: “He also claimed that they were encouraging him to go faster as opposed to him encouraging himself.”
Teenager’s life changed forever
The car was so seriously damaged by fire that a mechanical examination of it was not possible.
The court heard that while backseat passenger Mr Inglis was uninjured, Mr Emslie was paralysed from the waist down and will never regain the use of his legs.
He was transferred from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow, where he spent three months getting treatment.
Despite surgery to stabilise his broken spine, his condition is not expected to improve and he is now a full-time wheelchair user and requires help from nurses and carers daily.
Doctors say he will require “lifelong medical follow up, investigation and monitoring to watch for signs and complications of his injury”.
‘He is utterly ashamed’
Will admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said: “He takes full responsibility for this dreadful incident with truly catastrophic consequences.
“He is utterly ashamed and genuinely remorseful for his conduct. He wishes to make an unreserved apology to his victim for the life-changing injuries.
“He realises the damage he has done and he understands there will be only one possible outcome here.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin agreed that jail would be inevitable but granted Will, of Bellfield, Little Brechin, bail to “get his affairs in order” while background reports are prepared.
He will be sentenced next month.
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