A man has admitted causing the death of his close friend of more than 40 years after his overloaded trailer broke loose and caused a crash on Skye.
Donald “Donnie” Martin – chieftain of shinty club Skye Camanachd – died at the scene of the collision on the A87 near Portree on May 5 2022.
His old school friend, Malcolm Murchison, has now pled guilty to death by careless driving.
The charge details how he drove with an excessive and unsecured load that caused the trailer to become detached and cross into the oncoming lane.
Murchison, 69, who was originally charged with causing death by dangerous driving, appeared at the High Court in Inverness to admit the amended charge.
The court was told Mr Martin’s relatives did not want the family friend to be prosecuted and they did not attend today’s hearing.
Advocate depute Chris MacIntosh told the court that it was around 2.50pm when the incident occurred.
He said: “The accused was driving a van, which was towing a trailer.
“The trailer was overloaded.
Breakaway cable did not operate
“On the A87 the overloading caused the towbar to break. The trailer then became loose and the breakaway cable did not operate to apply its brakes.
“The trailer entered into the opposing carriageway and collided with an oncoming car driven by Donald Martin.
“Mr Martin suffered fatal injuries as a result of the collision and died at the scene.”
The court heard that the weight being towed at the time of the collision was 1,940 kilograms but the maximum towing capacity of the Volkswagen Caddy being driven by Murchison was 1,325kg and that of the fitted towbar was 1,588kg – meaning that the weight exceeded the towing capacity of both.
Mr MacIntosh said: “Following the detachment, the trailer still had forward momentum. It continued travelling north and entered the southbound lane where it collided with the oncoming Vauxhall Corsa driven by Mr Martin.
Victim had ‘no time to react’
“Mr Martin had no time to react before the collision occurred.”
At the scene of the accident, Murchison told witnesses “My mate Donnie is in there.”
Mr Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation determined Murchison had not been driving at excessive speed.
“It would have been obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving the van and trailer in that state of overload would be unsafe,” the advocate depute told the court, adding that investigators believed “driving the vehicle in such a state would have affected it’s handing”.
The court heard that Murchison and Mr Martin, 65, had been friends for more than 40 years.
Mr McIntosh told Lord Lake: “There are no victim impact statements and the next of kin have indicated that they did not wish to attend court today.
‘A tragic accident’
“Their view was that this was a tragic accident and they did not want a prosecution of the accused who remains a close friend of the family.
Solicitor advocate Shahid Latif, for Murchison, told the court his client was “acutely aware of the impact of his conduct in relation to what happened”.
He expressed his client’s apologies and said: “He is humbled by the magnanimity shown to him by Mr Martin’s family.”
Lord Lake called for presentencing reports and disqualified Murchison, of Park Bernisdale, Skye, from driving in the interim.
The case will call next at the High Court in Glasgow in May and Murchison was released on bail in the meantime.
Skye Camanachd paid tribute to their chieftain in the wake of the tragedy, writing: “No one individual has made a bigger contribution to Skye Camanachd.”
In the heartfelt post, the club praised Mr Martin, writing that his loss to the club is “simply immeasurable”