A pensioner wept as she told a court how her cousin lost her life after being struck by a vehicle being driven by a man who allegedly fainted at the wheel.
Margaret Haldane, 69, was also knocked over after she and relative Charlotte Collins, 68, attempted to cross the road at Glasgow’s Silverburn shopping centre.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard yesterday how Ms Collins – who was known as Carol – died in Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital in the hours following the incident.
The court also heard how the man who prosecutors say caused her death – Vincent Friel, 44 – had allegedly suffered a vasovagal attack at the wheel of his car.
The jury of nine women and six men heard that the medical condition allegedly caused Mr Friel’s blood pressure to drop so much that he fainted. He is also said to have experienced a “total loss of control of his actions”.
The jury saw CCTV footage of a car striking the two women and one of the women becoming trapped under its wheels.
Ms Haldane told the court she lay on the ground in the moments following the collision not knowing what had happened to her cousin.
She said: “I couldn’t see her. I couldn’t hear her. Nobody told me anything.”
Ms Haldane, of London, was giving evidence on the first day of proceedings against Mr Friel, of Rutherglen, Glasgow.
He denies two charges – causing Ms Collins’s death by driving dangerously and causing serious injury to Ms Haldane by driving dangerously, both at Barrhead Road, Glasgow, on January 18, 2014.
Ms Haldane told prosecution lawyer Iain McSporran that she was in Scotland to visit her family.
Ms Haldane, a retired administrator, told the court that she heard a “bang” as they crossed the pedestrian crossing. She told Mr McSporran: “Something just hit us.”
She added: “I was lying there. I could see people walking around. I was shouting for Carol. I couldn’t get up. I was looking around. I was shouting for her.”
Ms Haldane also said she saw the man who she thought was the driver standing close to her.
She added: “He said ‘Oh my God what have I done? Oh my God what have I done?’”
NHS catering assistant Fiona Friel told the court that she was crossing the road at the time of the collision. She said that one of the women had been trapped under the wheels of the car. The driver of the vehicle got out of his car but he returned to his vehicle shortly afterwards and reversed off the lady.
Ms Friel said the driver told her he hadn’t seen the two women.
The court heard that she told the driver that he did not need to see them because the pedestrian crossing had signalled it was ok for them to cross.
Mr Friel has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers have lodged a special defence on his behalf stating that he had a vasovagal attack at the time of the alleged incident.
The trial, before temporary judge John Morris QC, continues.
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