Man left with traumatic brain injury after being hit with car in row over phone

Two men who launched a life-threatening car attack at a motorway bridge on a victim who sustained a traumatic brain injury have been jailed.

Jack Ferguson and Joseph Nisbett used the vehicle to intentionally strike the man, who was thrown into the air and hit the ground.

Ferguson, 24, and Nisbett, 26, both of Glasgow, earlier admitted attacking the victim on April 19 last year to his severe injury, permanent impairment and disfigurement and to the danger of his life at a motorway bridge near Bredisholm Road, Bargeddie, in North Lanarkshire.

Nisbett also admitted assaulting the victim with a knife on the same date at Rosebank Terrace, Bargeddie, in an earlier incident.

The court heard that two young women were passengers in the Audi driven by Ferguson who was giving them a lift into Glasgow city centre for a night out.

During the journey, the car was stopped outside a shop in Bargeddie, but a confrontation occurred, and Nisbett got out of the front passenger seat with a knife or similar weapon and struck the victim with it.

He was uninjured, but Nisbett’s phone fell from his pocket onto the pavement before they drove off.

Nisbett later realised he had lost his phone and returned to look for it unsuccessfully. He said it must have been taken by the victim or others with him.

As the car was driven off, they saw the victim’s group walking across a bridge spanning the M8 and A8.

Ferguson turned the Audi onto the bridge and quickly accelerated towards them before hitting the victim. The women passengers had shouted at Ferguson to slow down, but were told to “shut up”.

As they drove back, they passed the injured man, and Ferguson said: “He’s still lying there, it must be serious.”

The victim was taken to hospital by ambulance and found to have multiple injuries, including bleeding into the brain and the area around the brain and a significant skull fracture.

He suffered difficulties with memory, concentration, attention, decision making and communication and received assistance from a brain injury rehabilitation service.

A judge told the pair at the High Court in Edinburgh that given the seriousness of the offence there was no alternative to the imposition of a custodial sentence.

Lady Ross said: “You both allowed a stupid argument about a phone to lead to a situation in which you used a car as a weapon.”

The judge said the victim was left with “terrible injuries” following the attack on him.

Lady Ross said that although Ferguson was the driver of the car, Nisbett was “very much part of this deliberate attack”. He was heard to say, ‘Do it, do it, hit them.’

Ferguson was jailed for four and a half years, and his co-accused for five years and four months, following the assault.

Defence counsel Allan Macleod said Ferguson was working as a health care support worker at the time of the offence and was remorseful for what occurred.

He said: “He advises me he has very little recollection of events. He says he has somehow blocked events from his mind. He does accept that he drove in the direction of these people.”

Mr Macleod said Ferguson was fully aware of “the terrible consequences of his actions”.

The court heard that Nisbett, a tiler, was also remorseful about what happened.

Ferguson was disqualified from driving or obtaining a driving licence for 12 years and three months, and Nisbet for 12 years and six months.