Quad bike teen jailed for mowing down woman in street

A TEENAGER who drove an unregistered quad bike at a woman at “up to 50 miles an hour” as she tried to quieten a disturbance in the street was jailed for more than three years.
Cheryl Scott. Picture: Central Scotland News AgencyCheryl Scott. Picture: Central Scotland News Agency
Cheryl Scott. Picture: Central Scotland News Agency

Disqualified driver Aiden Paterson (19) who was screaming: “Do you know who I am?”, mowed down Cheryl Scott as she stood on the pavement outside her home.

Mrs Scott (45) was thrown into the road and sustained a “complex” leg fracture.

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She spent three days in a high dependency unit and still has to use a wheelchair.

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Police originally treated the incident, in Methil, as a suspected attempted murder.

Imposing a 40-month jail term, Sheriff James Williamson told Paterson: “You caused serious injury to a woman who had remonstrated with you about your behaviour as a result of which she was in hospital for some significant time.”

Paterson, of Methil, appeared for sentence at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court after pleading guilty last month to causing Mrs Scott serious injury by dangerous driving.

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He also admitted driving an unregistered vehicle while disqualified and having no insurance in the August (2019) incident, and breaching a curfew condition of a bail order by being outside his home after 7pm.

Claire Bremner, prosecuting, said the incident occurred after Mrs Scott had been socialising at home in Kirkland Walk, Methil.

Around midnight, she went outside to try to quell a commotion involving youths in the street.

The court heard there had been an earlier disturbance outside Mrs Scott’s home involving a group of youths, and she had gone outside to separate them.

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The group ran off, but then there was the “further commotion” and Mrs Scott, who was standing on the pavement, heard someone shouting “it’s that house there”.

Mrs Bremner said: “The accused was on a quad bike. He was shouting, ‘Do you know who I am, I’m Aiden Paterson, my name’s Aiden Paterson.

“He then drove at speed towards her. A witness said it was 40 to 50 miles an hour.”

Mrs Bremner, the depute fiscal, said Mrs Scott was thrown into the carriageway and Paterson came off his quad bike.

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Chased by two of Mrs Scott’s friends, he shouted, “I didnae mean to kill her.”

Paterson was arrested later and Mrs Scott was taken to hospital. She had permanent plates inserted in the “complex” leg fracture and the court was told she was “not expected to make a complete recovery in terms of a full range of movement and pain”.

David Bell, defending, said Paterson was “immature” and had a “fascination” with motorcycles.

He said Paterson and a group of other youths had been returning to the town after “messing about” on quad bikes on a track by a nearby river.

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He said: “This motorbike wasn’t in a particularly roadworthy condition, and he was disqualified from driving at the time.

“He was showing off in front of his peers.

“It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to strike her, but it was extremely reckless driving.”

Sheriff Williamson jailed Paterson for a total of 32 months for the quad bike offences, plus a further eight months, consecutive to that, for vandalising the window of a bus with the vehicle’s emergency hammer in a separate, earlier, incident, which he also admitted.

He also disqualified him from driving for three years.

Speaking outside court last month, Mrs Scott said: “I just want to say to him, why did you do that? He could have driven away when I asked him to. I was trying to reason with him.

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“I don’t remember being hit, I just remember being on the ground, and then in the back of an ambulance. I remember I couldn’t breathe properly, and they told me later I had to get CPR.

“It’s put me through weeks of hell.

“I was in hospital for four weeks and I had two operations on my leg.

“I can’t walk, I won’t be able to for at least a year, I’ve been told I may never walk normally again, and I will have nerve damage for the rest of my life.”

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