A teaching assistant crashed her car into a family home and caused £200,000 worth of damage after she passed out while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, a court has heard.
Maryam Abbasi, 37, was speeding on the wrong side of the road when she careered into a garden wall and embedded the front of her car in the house in Edinburgh in April 2021.
Abbasi, of Bilston, Midlothian, was commuting home from the primary school she worked at when she lost control and smashed her grey car into the bungalow resulting in hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage.
Pictures show how the front door was ripped off its hinges, while a glass window was shattered and cracks had appeared in the walls.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the crash may have been caused due to the mother-of-two losing consciousness as she had been fasting during Ramadan at the time.
Maryam Abbasi (pictured), 37, crashed her car into a family home and caused £200,000 worth of damage after she passed out while fasting for Ramadan
Pictures show how the front door was ripped off its hinges, while a glass window was shattered and cracks had appeared in the walls
Abbasi was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery to serious facial wounds including having metal plates inserted.
She was subsequently arrested and charged with dangerous driving but pleaded guilty to an amended charge of driving without due care and attention when she appeared in court on Monday.
Fiscal depute Erin Illand told the court two witnesses spotted Abbasi speeding along the city’s Oxgangs Road before crashing into the house at around 3pm on April 26 2021.
Ms Illand said the pair were ‘travelling on foot and saw a dark vehicle driving at excessive speed towards a roundabout’ and noted the vehicle ‘was on the wrong side of the road’.
The fiscal said: ‘The driver made no attempt to steer. The vehicle then collided with a garden wall and then collided with the house.
‘There was major damage to that house and the accused was the sole occupant of the vehicle and was within the driver seat.
‘She suffered traumatic injuries to her face and appeared to be dazed and confused.
‘There was extensive damage to her vehicle and the damage to the house was estimated at £200,000.’
The court heard the occupant of the house was forced to move out for around 11 months for the repair work on the property to be carried out.
Solicitor Richard Freeman, defending, said his client had qualified as a criminal lawyer in Pakistan and was studying for an HND in teaching in this country when the accident took place.
He said Abbasi had been working as a teaching assistant at the Corstorphine Primary School as part of the college course and was driving home when she lost control of the car.
Mr Freeman said: ‘The circumstances are somewhat of a mystery.
Abbasi was rushed to hospital where she underwent surgery to serious facial wounds including having metal plates inserted. She was later arrested and charged. Pictured: Emergency services at the scene
‘She had been fasting as part of Ramadan festival and had been fasting up until the incident and that may well have had something to do with the incident.’
The lawyer told the court Abbasi has ‘no recollection’ of the accident and that she suffered a fractured right ankle and extensive bone fractures in her face during the smash.
He said her children attended separate schools in Edinburgh and her driving licence was essential to the family as she is the only member who can take them to and from their schools.
Mr Freeman added Abbasi had no endorsements on her licence since passing her test 11 years ago and has been driving without incident since the crash almost three years ago.
Sheriff Gordon Liddle said: ‘Looking at this in the round I am satisfied, as far as I can be, that there is no instant and obvious danger presented by your driving today and that is an important thing for the purpose of public safety is concerned.
‘But I have to deal with this as it stands, so I am not going to disqualify you which is probably of great relief to you and instead I am going to impose penalty points.’
Abbasi had eight penalty points placed on her driving licence and was fined a total of £715.
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