A DRINK-driver who caused the death of a teenage girl when his car hit a wall was today jailed for more than three years.
Chef Adam Harazim agreed to give Samantha Forrest, 16, and her two friends a lift on February 1 this year despite having been drinking earlier in the day.
As he drove along Perth's Dunkeld Road he lost control at a roundabout and the car hit a wal
l.
Polish national Harazim, 26, previously admitted causing Miss Forrest's death by careless driving while over the legal drink drive limit.
Sentencing Harazim to 40 months in prison at the High Court in Aberdeen today, judge Lord Bracadale said it was a "most tragic case" involving a "young girl starting out in life".
Harazim was also banned from driving for eight years and must then sit an advanced driving test.
Earlier this month the High Court in Edinburgh heard that Miss Forrest had been drinking on the day of the crash with friends Chad Netherington and Steven Stibbles in the grounds of a school until around 9.30pm.
They met Harazim – who they did not know – outside a bank. He had been promoted earlier that day and had later had a meal and drinks with friends.
The group persuaded him to drive them into town but the court heard that Mr Stibbles at one point became concerned that Harazim was accelerating too hard.
When the car entered the roundabout junction it failed to negotiate the camber and struck the roundabout.
It passed partially over the roundabout, collided with a wall, before overturning and coming to rest in the middle of the road.
Miss Forrest who had not been wearing a seatbelt suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Netherington was also seriously injured and was found unconscious. The remaining two escaped with cuts and bruises.
Harazim, from Perth, gave a positive breath test and was later found to be more than twice the legal drink-drive limit.
He told police he believed he had been fit to drive.
Defence counsel Ronnie Renucci told the High Court today: "The primary lack of judgement by Mr Harazim was in his decision to drive having consumed the quantity of alcohol he had."
Mr Renucci said a prison sentence would impact on Harazim and his family but added: "The impact it will have on him is as nothing compared to the impact his actions will have on the family of Samantha Forrest."
He said Harazim had shown "genuine shock and remorse". He had no previous convictions and that the charge he admitted was death by careless driving rather than the more serious dangerous driving.
Lord Bracadale told Harazim that he would have been sentenced to five years in prison had it not been for his early guilty plea.
He said: "This is in any view a tragic case. Samantha Forrest was only 16 years of age when she was killed in a car driven by you.
"She was a young girl starting out in life and her family and friends have to bear that loss.
"You have to carry that burden of being responsible for that death."
He said he accepted that Harazim had shown remorse and had no intention of driving that night but that he "did agree to drive despite the opportunity to refuse".
The full article contains 564 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
