Update on fatal accident trial

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"Nothing we could do for motorbike casualty" - witness
ONE of two people early on the scene of the crash told the jury of how they turned their attention to the trapped van passenger following the tragic realisation that there was nothing they could do for motor cyclist, Brent Larnach.
Self-employed Robert Dunbar rushed to the accident scene with James Tait, after hearing the motorbike approach – then “an almighty bang”. They had been working on a poly-tunnel at the home of James’s parents house at Borrowston Croft, some 200 yards away.
Mr Dunbar, 29, told the jury: “The motor cyclist was lying opposite the passenger door of the van and there was no sign of life. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do for him and we started to care for Helen (Spence) who was in in the passenger seat and was not in a good state at all. The emergency services had to cut her from the van.” Ms Spence, who sustained multiple pelvic injures, was treated at two hospitals and recovered.
Mr Dunbar said that Palmer came round the front of the van and added that he appeared to be in a shocked state.
Mrs Maureen Henderson, was preparing to cut her mother’s grass at Borrowston Lodge when she heard the motorbike passing and thought it was going “quite fast”.
She told the court: “It was a calm day with very little traffic on the go, so I could hear it clearly and noted how many gear changes there were as he came out of the Borrowston corner. There was a pop as it passed my mother’s house and one of us said –“I hope there hasn’t been an accident.” Half-an-hour later we looked out from the bottom of the garden and realised what had happened when we saw the emergency services.”
Cross-examined by defence solicitor, Fiona MacDonald, about the speed of the bike, Mrs Henderson replied: “The motorbike was travelling fast, really quickly. I would say it was well over the 60mph limit by the sound of the gears he was changing up. The Borrowston corner is tight and vehicles tend to accelerate as they head onto the straight.”
Administration worker Mrs Diane Henderson was heading north to Thurso, from Tain and observed the southbound van which was slowing down and indicating it was turning right. Two or three minutes later, she looked in her mirror and saw a cloud of smoke. She contacted the police on two days later, after learning of the accident.