SENTENCING STATEMENTS

"On the morning of 18 September 2024, on Hawkhead Road, Paisley, two men were making their way to their regular place of employment, walking on a pavement.  A full, long and healthy future lay ahead of each of them.  From behind them, however, without any warning, these men were mown down by a motor vehicle which, without braking, mounted the pavement, and was driven dangerously into collision with them, all in such a way as to inflict catastrophic injuries upon both of them.

"Mr Stephen Craig, then aged 50, had a loving family comprising his wife and two daughters.  Following the collision, he was thrown directly into the forecourt of an adjacent garage.  He died of his injuries in hospital some days later, his life being pronounced extinct on the evening of 22 September 2024.

"Mr Craig McDermott, who was carried on the bonnet of the vehicle but who mercifully survived, required to remain in hospital for several months, receiving treatment from the hospital major trauma team and subsequently the major trauma neuropsychology team.  His multiple and life threatening injuries can be summarised as follows:  a subarachnoid bleed in the frontal lobe, the fracture of facial bones, including bones at the base of the skull, fractures of the thoracic and cervical spine, fractures of the fibulae, a spleen laceration, a severe ankle fracture and possible fractures of five ribs.  Mr McDermott’s present circumstances, surgical history, medications and ongoing impairments were set out in the agreed narrative of facts read into the court record previously.

"Today, Scott Nugent, you will receive from this court a sentence of imprisonment for your crimes against these men.  You had worked three night shifts, and that fateful morning you fell asleep at the wheel of your vehicle, thereby inflicting the carnage which ensued, carnage which, make no mistake about it, continues to envelop the families of your victims as well as Mr McDermott himself.

"Much of what the court has heard this morning from your senior counsel has very properly addressed and centred upon your own circumstances.  I will take all of that material into account, of course, as I require to.  But you must understand that the focus of the court’s attention today is upon your victims, who must be given their rightful place in this sentencing exercise.  I have read heart rending and most eloquent impact statements from family members in this case, particularly so from Mr Craig’s grieving widow, and I fully understand that no sentence which this court could ever impose will be anywhere near adequate in their eyes.  The custodial sentence which I will be imposing in respect of this indictment, will, however, nevertheless have as its core objectives the twin sentencing purposes of retribution and deterrence.

"You are aged 42 and are a first offender.  You have been assessed as presenting a minimum level of risk.  I do not expect you ever to appear in the dock of any court again.  You have lived a thoroughly pro social life, as is testified in the extensive character reference material lodged on your behalf for this hearing.  A medical report is also available in respect of you. You have expressed genuine remorse, accepting full responsibility for your criminal conduct by way of your early plea. You cooperated with the authorities at the scene of the collision, and you have expressed to the author of the background report, most powerfully of all perhaps, in my view, the wish that you had died or been seriously injured, rather than your victims.

"But you that day took one man’s life and his and his family’s future and you inflicted life changing injuries upon another man.  Your victims were pedestrians, walking safely on a pavement, and you criminally drove your car into them with devastating and indeed fatal consequences.  One day you will doubtless walk out of prison and into a future life.  Mr Craig can never do that;  and Mr McDermott’s life has been forever changed, all due to your criminal behaviour.

"On this indictment you will serve accordingly a sentence of 5 years imprisonment.  But for the timing and utility of your plea the notional headline sentence which I would have imposed would have been one of 7 years.  This sentence is backdated to the date of your plea of guilty and initial remand into custody in these proceedings, namely to 9 March 2026.