A female driver was targeted and terrorised by a six-times-the-limit drink driver who had mistaken her for his wife, a court has heard.
Slawomir Stiller drove his van on the wrong side of the A9 and at one point even rammed the woman’s car as multiple road users called the police to report his terrifying behaviour.
Other drivers were forced to swap lanes to avoid Stiller’s van as he mounted verges and drove straight at them, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
The 49-year-old was shouting about “his wife” as he targeted a female driver, who made distressed calls to her own husband and police during the disturbing incident.
Stiller was eventually arrested after he blocked the woman in and rammed her car on the Kessock Bridge, before trying her doors and punching her vehicle.
Stiller appeared from custody at Inverness to admit charges of drink-driving, dangerous driving, assault and threatening behaviour.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told the court it was around 6.30pm on May 8 of this year when a woman driving on the dual carriageway south of the Tore roundabout noticed Stiller’s van “driving straight towards her, flashing its main beam”.
She pulled into a layby to call her husband and police, at which point Stiller travelled anti-clockwise around the Tore roundabout before continuing in the wrong carriageway.
When another driver sounded his horn Stiller stopped his vehicle straddling both lanes. The driver told Stiller “he could not drive that way as he would cause an accident” at which point Stiller began “shouting about his wife” and “spun his wheels while accelerating”.
He then mounted the central reservation to go around the witness, before continuing in the same direction “driving slowly and hitting the verge”.
Some cars stopped as they saw the vehicle approaching them in the wrong lane, while others were “forced to swap lanes” to prevent a collision.
At one point Stiller got out of his car and crossed the carriageway to the layby where the witnesses had pulled over. He approached one vehicle and attempted to open the door before returning to his van and making a U-turn to again travel north in the southbound lanes.
He veered towards where the witnesses were stopped but then carried on to the roundabout again – causing another driver to change lanes to avoid him.
Police received 12 calls to 999 number
Police Scotland received 12 999 calls from concerned members of the public throughout the incident, which was caught on dashcam.
Ms Hood told the court: “Police units were sent to set up a rolling roadblock to slow the panel and prevent a potentially fatal crash from happening.”
The woman – who Stiller had mistakenly thought was his wife – moved to another layby but was again targeted by Stiller, who approached with his hazard lights on and then drove in front of her to try to prevent her from leaving.
“She managed to drive around him,” the fiscal depute said.
But when she was slowed by a lorry on the Kessock Bridge Stiller overtook her and applied his brakes.
“He has then begun to reverse his vehicle into the front of the witness,” Ms Hood said.
Stiller parked his van and started trying to pull open the woman’s driver’s side door whilst shouting, before returning to his vehicle and moving it diagonally across both lanes.
He then got out again and began to punch the woman’s door.
Woman’s ‘extreme distress’
Police attended and found the witness in extreme distress,” said Ms Hood.
Stiller, who appeared “unsteady on his feet” and “agitated” was “ranting” towards the woman who he “appeared to believe was his wife”.
He was detained and officers noted a bottle of whisky and medication inside his vehicle.
Stiller failed a roadside breath test and subsequent testing revealed his breath alcohol level to be 136 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath – more than six times the legal limit of 22 microgrammes.
The incident was captured on various dashcams and CCTV cameras and the shocking footage played in the court.
Sheriff Sara Matheson called for presentencing reports and disqualified Stiller, whose address was given as a prisoner in Inverness, from driving with immediate effect.
She remanded him in custody until the next calling.
