A9 death crash accused thought his wife and daughter were okay after accident

A jury has heard harrowing evidence of how a trip to Inverness for the family of an Edinburgh solicitor ended in tragedy on their way home down the A9.

Three people, including the wife and young daughter of Andrew Houston and a German tourist, died in the collision nearly Ralia on July 9 the summer of 2013.

Houston, (48), of Wardie Avenue, Edinburgh, who was at the wheel of an Audi A4, has denied causing death by careless driving by veering on to the carriageway of oncoming traffic causing a collision with a Cherokee Jeep.

His wife Abigail, seven year-old daughter Mia and Mohammed Hayajneh, a German doctor, who was a passenger in the Cherokee jeep, died as a result of the accident.

The jury watched a video recording of Houston being interviewed by police at Perth Police Station on December 15 that year.

In the interview Houston, who broke down in tears as it was replayed in court, told police how he held his wife’s hand after the collision and he thought she was going to be okay.

He said he could see no sign of injuries to his daughter Mia who had been watching a DVD in the back of their car with her sister Lily, (9), before the crash.

But then he recalled someone giving CPR to the little girl.

Jurors heard how Houston had a court case to attend in Dornoch and he took his family up to Inverness where they stayed overnight at a Premier Inn.

On July 9 he attended Dornoch Sheriff Court while his wife and two daughters enjoyed a dolphin trip in Inverness before meeting up later at the Eastgate Centre.

Then the family travelled south stopping off at Aviemore for fish and chips before continuing their journey south.

Jurors had already heard evidence from Ursula Hayajneh, (59), who was driving a Cherokee Jeep north with her husband Mohammed in the passenger’s seat of the left hand drive vehicle.

Mrs Hayajneh had told the court the trip was a golfing holiday she arranged for her husband and they were travelling towards Inverness having visited Edinburgh and St Andrews.

She described how a car in front suddenly turned to the left and went on to the grass verge and she saw Houston’s Audi coming directly towards her jeep on the wrong side of the road.

The car coming towards her, she said, didn’t take evasive action and the vehicles collided.

"It was right there in front of me. It was looking at a three-cinema screen. The whole of the black (Audi) car was on my side of the road."

Mrs Hayajneh said for a split second before the collision she knew if she went to the left she would hit the car which had gone off the road ahead of her so she went to the right.

"Maybe had I gone to the left my husband would be alive," she added.

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