Hit-and-run victim speaks after drink driver's sentencing
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A RALLY car enthusiast who was knocked down by a drink-driver and left for dead feels "lucky to be alive" and is determined to make a complete recovery.
Speaking for the first time about the hit-and-run, Steven Fraser says he is now focusing on his health and is refusing to dwell on the actions of Andrei Sinzieanu who was jailed for three years and nine months two weeks ago.
Mr Fraser said: "I couldn’t do that to someone, so I can’t understand it.
"At the end of the day he’s got to live with what he did and I’ve got to live with what’s happened – and I think I’m strong enough to get on with that."
The 36-year-old had been socialising with friends after taking part in the Snowman Rally when he was knocked down on Friar’s Bridge on February 19 last year.
Sinzieanu fled the scene but was later stopped by police on the A9 after 53-year-old Iain Freer followed in hot pursuit when he spotted Sinzieanu’s VW Passat with its windscreen "smashed to bits".
Mr Fraser suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones and a lacerated liver. In the hours after the crash, doctors drew his family round his bedside saying he may have hours left to live.
It took him a week to regain consciousness and he cannot remember the accident.
Since then, he has had to learn to walk again and will have surgery to remove steel plates from his limbs. He has been unable to return to his job as a gamekeeper.
Sinzieanu later admitted six charges – drink-driving, dangerous driving, being a disqualified driver, having no insurance, causing serious injury to Mr Fraser and attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to avoid arrest.
The 26-year-old was jailed for 45 months and banned from driving for six years.
Mr Fraser, who lives at Inverinate, Kintail, has never met Sinzieanu.
He did not go to the court case and harbours no hatred for him.
"I’ve no hatred for anybody," said the father-of-two.
"I just feel disappointed in the way he behaved but it’s him that has to live with that.
"I’m just lucky to be alive.
"I asked the police what speed he was doing when he hit me. They weren’t sure but they think it was between 50mph and 60mph. They said I was thrown a fair bit.
"I had a couple of cuts on the back of my head and my face was split but it’s all healed up now. It’s amazing there was no head damage, I was very lucky.
"I have no idea how it all happened. How I must have landed indicated it’s the right side where he would have hit me.
"All I know is my shirt buttons were found inside the car, stuck in the roof, so my arm must have gone into the window and I think the side windows were all broken as well as the back window so I don’t know if that was me rolling on top of it.
"From what it sounded like, it’s amazing he made it as far as he did considering the damage to the car."
Mr Fraser said he was stunned to hear of the bravery shown by Mr Freer who gave chase.
The oil worker from Elmwood Avenue, Inverness, had just finished his shift at the Caledonian Oil terminal in Cromwell Road when he saw Sinzieanu at Harbour Road roundabout – just moments after he had mowed down Mr Fraser.
In an earlier interview with the Courier, Mr Freer said: "The windscreen was totally smashed to bits and I knew he’d hit someone or something. I stopped and phoned the police."
Officers in the control room told Mr Freer they were looking for a car similar to what he was describing and asked if he could keep following it while police units were being rallied to intercept him.
So Mr Freer kept up pursuit and stayed on the phone with the police operator as Sinzieanu headed south on the A9 for about 12 miles until he saw blue lights.
Mr Fraser said it was "something I’d probably have done myself" and he was very grateful.
He added: "The last year for me has been hell, but I’m getting there. I’m surrounded by really good people.
"There were some days in hospital when it was just a constant stream of visitors – it kept me going. And my community has been amazing. And then there were the paramedics, and all the surgeons and nurses and the physiotherapists.
"I would love to make a 100 per cent recovery but I don’t know if I will. I just have to take each day as it comes. I’m just happy to still be here, it’s as simple as that."
