Police spent two hours searching for an injured passenger in a serious car crash – only to find him 20 metres away from the vehicle with a broken back.
School teacher Lyalle Suarez had been under the influence of alcohol when she lost control of her Honda CR-V on the A92 between Gourdon and Benholm and plunged down a steep embankment into a field.
The vehicle automatically phoned the police and when officers arrived they found the 34-year-old smelling of alcohol and with slurred speech.
Her partner, who had been in the passenger seat, was thrown from the vehicle and suffered serious injuries.
But he lay stricken in the field for two agonising hours while police searched for him, despite being just 20 metres from the car.
Fiscal depute Brooklyn Shaw told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 1.30am on June 4 last year.
An automated feature in Suarez’s vehicle, sensing the crash, phoned the police and, during the call, it was noted that Suarez “sounded intoxicated”.
Officers raced to the scene and found the vehicle had travelled down a seven-foot embankment and come to rest in a field some 30 metres from the road.
It had “significant damage” and both airbags had been deployed.
Ms Shaw said: “The accused was traced by the police in a dazed state, smelling of alcohol with glazed eyes and slurred speech.
“She indicated her partner may have been within the vehicle at the time.
“After two hours of searching, he was located approximately 20 metres from the vehicle.”
He was found to have sustained two broken ribs, a broken sternum, four broken lumbar vertebrae and a broken ankle.
The court heard tests showed Suarez had 67 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood, the legal limit being 50 milligrammes.
Suarez, of Croft Place, St Cyrus, pled guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol.
‘It was dark and markings at the side of the road are quite faint’
Defence agent Carolyn Leckie said her client, a qualified primary school teacher in Australia, was a first offender.
She said: “She accepts full responsibility for the charge and has been plagued by remorse and the consequences of her decision that night.”
The lawyer said neither party had any memory of what happened to cause the crash.
However, she added that there was “context” to her getting behind the wheel that night, but did not disclose what it was in open court.
Ms Leckie went on: “It’s only when certain matters upset Ms Suarez that she made the decision to drive home.
“I would submit that it was dark and I do have photos that show the markings at the side of the road are quite faint.”
She explained Suarez also suffered “seatbelt injuries” and that her mental health had been impacted.
She said: “The complainer was found in a field, I’d submit possibly thrown out of the car.
“In the medical evidence there’s no reference to him having suffered seatbelt injuries so I’d submit it’s likely he was not wearing a seatbelt while Ms Suarez was.”
Ms Leckie said Suarez had been unable to return to Australia to see her children since the start of the proceedings as the police had seized her passport.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane ordered Suarez to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for a year.
She also banned her from driving for three years.
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