Anne's Jury Service

Today was Anne's final day on the jury for a case at the High Court in Glasgow. She told me all about it over dinner.

The case took six days and the unanimous verdict was 'not guilty'. The charge was causing death by dangerous driving but the case rested on whether the accused was actually the driver.

The incident happenned on Islay. The three polish men involved were doing some building work in a big mansion on the Island. The accused had joined them that day, coming over from Poland, but bringing with him a bottle of Polish vodka to say thankyou for the work. This litre bottle, plus another two bottles of vodka that were subsequently purchased, were consumed by the builders before the incident.

Whilst attempting to drive back to their digs, the car went off the road and hit a tree, killing the man in the passenger seat instantly. The driver and the rear passenger survived. When interviewed by police, the accused said he was so drunk he said he could not remember what happened and admitted he might have been the driver. However, the other survivor, despite having had as much vodka, said he could remember what happened and that it was the accused who was driving.

The accused had minimal injuries and it was he who had run back to the house and got help. When help arrived, the other man was in the back seat. However, there was evidence that, despite being badly injured, he had moved himself there. More importantly, his injuries were consistent with having been in the driver's seat.

So it looked like the other man had been driving but tried to blame it on the accused, hence the unanimous verdict. What is tragic is that the three men involved had been best friends since childhood.