A motorist who caused a head-on collision after overtaking two cars on a blind corner in Angus had his custodial sentence reduced by High Court appeal.
Michal Dulas, 34, was jailed for 27 months at Forfar Sheriff Court last November, after he admitted driving into the path of an oncoming car on the A937 Montrose to Craigo road in July 2014.
The other driver, a 45-year-old man, suffered a punctured lung, a broken wrist, hip and foot and torn ankle ligaments in the crash.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said there was no alternative to a custodial sentence and imposed 27 months, reduced from 36 months to take account of Dulas’s early plea. He also banned Dulas, whose address was given as Lordburn Place, Forfar, from driving for five years.
However, the sentence was appealed and has now been reduced to 18 months after consideration by Lord Brodie and Lord Malcolm.
The appeal, led by solicitor advocate Iain Peterson, pointed out that Dulas was a first offender who was a breadwinner for his family and who had a favourable criminal justice social work report.
He added that there were no aggravating circumstances and that Dulas had been willing to carry out unpaid work.
The opinion of the court, delivered by Lord Brodie and published yesterday, is that a custodial sentence was the correct disposal, but for a shorter time.
The written judgement stated: “An important feature of the case is that the appellant is a person of good character with no previous convictions.
“It was also true to say, as Mr Paterson did say, that many of the aggravating features found in cases of dangerous driving were absent here.
“However, the appellant pled guilty to dangerous driving which caused very significant injury and continuing disability to another driver who was entirely an innocent party.
“Parliament has provided that in cases of this sort the court may impose a sentence up to five years imprisonment.
“It is because of the impact on the other driver and the injuries and disability that he has suffered that we conclude that contrary to Mr Paterson’s primary submission, this is a case where there is no alternative to a custodial sentence.
“The sheriff was quite correct about that. The question then came to be what that sentence should be.
“We saw the force of Mr Paterson’s submission that where the maximum sentence is five years imprisonment and when regard is had to the driving in this case and the absence of aggravating factors as listed by Mr Paterson, a starting or headline figure of three years imprisonment is excessive.
“We shall substitute a sentence which is calculated on the basis of a headline or starting figure of 24 months imprisonment and we will apply to that period the same level of discount as was allowed by the sheriff. That has the result that the sentence imposed by the court will be one of 18 months imprisonment.”
Forfar Sheriff Court previously heard that Dulas had repeatedly gone into the opposing carriageway and overtook cars before the head-on collision.
Defence agent Sarah Russo said that on the day in question Dulas was travelling to collect his wife from Laurencekirk but had been running wake.
She added that Dulas had accepted full responsibility for the accident and expressed his remorse and concern throughout.
