Solicitor cleared of killing three in A9 road crash but guilty of careless driving
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A SOLICITOR has been cleared of causing the death of his wife, his young daughter and a German tourist in a A9 car crash after a four-day trial.
But Andrew Houston was found guilty of careless driving as a result of his actions which led to the crash on July 9, 2013.
The 48-year-old had denied causing death by careless driving by going onto the opposite carriageway and into oncoming traffic on a stretch of the A9 near Ralia.
Jurors heard how Houston’s wife Abigail and seven-year-old daughter Mia died in the accident along with German doctor Mohammed Hayajneh (62). Mr Hayajneh’s wife Ursula was at the wheel of a left-hand drive Jeep Cherokee which collided with Houston’s Audi A4 on a stretch of the A9 near Ralia between Kingussie and Dalwhinnie.
The accident happened after Houston, of Wardie Avenue, Edinburgh, attended to business at Dornoch Sheriff Court while his family enjoyed a break in Inverness.
A police interview with Houston was played to Inverness Sheriff Court where he described how he held his wife’s hand after the collision and told her everything would be OK. His daughters Mia and Lily (9) were watching a DVD in the back seat at the time of the crash.
Houston’s defence counsel, Frances McMenamin QC, in her final submission asked the jury to consider finding him guilty of driving carelessly by crossing the central white lines but not of causing the deaths.
She said Houston had done the right thing by swerving left just before the collision.
Mrs Hayajneh, who has sat throughout the trial with her son Jonas stood up after the final submission and shouted to the jury: “He killed three people. They have no future and he is Mr Clean.”
After a day of deliberating, Houston was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving but found guilty of careless driving.
He was fined £1000 and disqualified from driving for one year.
