Circus performers pulled children from Moray crash wreck

Circus performers helped remove two children from a minibus after it was involved in a fatal crash.

A court heard they came across the accident on the A96 as they were returning from Aberdeen to Elgin.

Acrobat David Amoll told a jury he used a sledgehammer to break a rear window.

Alfredo Ciociola, 50, denies causing the deaths of Audrey Appleby, Edward Reid, Evalyn Collie, Frances Saliba and Lorenzo Ciociola by driving dangerously near Keith in July 2018.

Mr Amoll told the High Court in Edinburgh another member of the troupe went into the vehicle and informed him there were three passengers in the van, two children and a woman.

The witness added: "He picked the first kid up and brought him out. He was unresponsive. To me he was not breathing at all."

"He handed me the second child who was covered in blood. He was very stressed and crying."

The circus artist said he passed the first child to another colleague and added: "He took him to a separate place to try to resuscitate him."

The second child was put in the care of another member of the team.

Mr Amoll, 28, said he and other performers with Zippo's circus were on tour and had put up a tent in Elgin before travelling to Aberdeen to see the Ladyboys of Bangkok and the Moscow Circus.

They were returning to the Moray town when they came across the collision between the minibus and a Nissan X-Trail.

Others had already stopped at the scene as he went to the driver's side and saw the man behind the wheel.

Mr Amoll said: "He said my family is in the back. Please help them. I tried to open the door but it was jammed."

He said he went round the back of the vehicle and could hear a child scream and tried to break a window with his hands before retrieving the sledgehammer from his own vehicle.

Emergency services arrived as efforts were made to open a door on the Nissan.

Mr Amoll was giving evidence at the trial of Alfredo Ciociola who has denied causing the deaths of five people, including his four-year-old son Lorenzo, on 26 July 2018 by driving dangerously.

The Italian national was on a touring holiday of Scotland when the collision took place.

It is alleged that on the A96 road near Inveramsay Bridge, Pitcaple, in Aberdeenshire, and on the Huntly to Keith road near to the Drummuir junction, Keith, Morayshire, Mr Ciociola failed to pay proper attention to the road ahead, fell asleep and repeatedly braked and drove onto the opposing carriageway, colliding with a Nissan SUV driven by Morag Smith.

Three passengers in her vehicle, Audrey Appleby, Edward Reid and Evalyn Collie died. A passenger in the Fiat Talento driven by Mr Ciociola, Frances Saliba, also died along with Lorenzo Ciociola.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Ms Smith, 44, has no recollection of the crash and her first memory after the collision is of waking up in hospital with her family at the bottom of the bed.

The former offshore worker said she had driven her friends to Elgin to take part in line dancing before starting out on the return journey to Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire.

She told advocate depute Derick Nelson that she could not recall coming to the Drummuir junction but remembered later waking up in hospital.

Ms Smith said she was later told that the three passengers in her car had died.

The witness confirmed she was subsequently medically retired and still experiences pain from her injuries.

The trial, before Lord Mulholland, continues.