Driver found guilty of Boxing Day death crash in Bearsden
- Published
Janette Henry, 67, told the court she had no memory of the moments before the crash in 2019
A woman has been convicted of causing a Boxing Day crash that killed one person and injured five of her relatives.
Janette Henry, 67, was behind the wheel of her Range Rover when she drove into a family walking to a restaurant in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire in 2019.
Community worker Eleanor Ballantyne, 60, died as a result of the collision.
Henry told jurors she had no memory of the crash and said she got out of her vehicle to a "scene from hell".
The trial had heard claims she could have suffered a blackout but Henry was convicted of causing death by careless driving at the High Court in Glasgow.
Henry faces a possible jail-term when she is sentenced in February.
Eleanor's brother Brian Ballantyne, 59, had earlier told the trial how the family had got together for a traditional Boxing Day gathering at his home in Bearsden.
The group were walking on the pavement to a local restaurant when tragedy struck.
'Terrible thudding'
Mr Ballantyne recalled seeing a car with "very bright" lights coming towards them and then a "terrible thudding".
Henry's vehicle had mounted the pavement and struck a wall before hitting the group and then a parked Jaguar car.
After checking on his family, the company director told the court he saw Henry standing on the street.
Asked what she was like, he stated: "I will never forget her demeanour the rest of my life.
"It was almost as if she had parked her car. Her behaviour was too normal."
The 2019 crash happened in Manse Road in Bearsden
Eleanor's other brother Charles Ballantyne, 52, also spoke about the crash.
He told jurors: "I remember watching the car and trying to process why it was not slowing down.
"I do not know if it was picking up pace, but it was not slowing down.
"I swung my wife around. The one thing I remember was the car being massive."
In the aftermath, he spotted his stricken sister among the injured.
The transport manager said: "My wife was hysterical. I remember them shouting to get Eleanor, pointing out where she was.
"She was face down in a puddle - half on the pavement and half off."
'I thought we had been hit '
Eleanor, of Dundee, was critically injured and died in hospital a week later.
Prosecutors stated Henry had failed to negotiate a bend and then travelled across the opposite lane.
She was said to have struck the wall and not stopped her vehicle before hitting the family.
Henry told jurors she had been returning to Bearsden from Loch Lomond with relatives when the crash occurred.
As she neared home, the human resources worker recalled slowing down on a narrow road to pass parked cars.
Her next memory was airbags deploying in her 4x4.
Henry said: "I thought we had been hit by an oncoming car."
She was said to have "screamed" before the collision but claimed to have no memory of that.
Her lawyer Thomas Ross KC put to her: "Other than a medical emergency, can you think of any other reason why you would plough into a wall and a group of pedestrians?"
She replied: "No."
'Scene out of hell'
Prosecutor Adrian Stalker later stated when Henry got out of her vehicle and realised what happened it must have been "horrifying".
Henry said: "It does not even come close. I was met with something that was like a scene out of hell."
Mr Stalker put to Henry that she now "could not accept" what she had done.
She replied: "I do not know what happened."
Medical experts who gave evidence could not rule out Henry suffered a sudden loss of consciousness at the wheel.
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