Accused hit & run lawyer woke up in bushes

Simon Courtney

(CNS): An offshore attorney who mowed down two visitors to the Cayman Islands after he lost control of his sports car, following a champagne brunch at the Ritz-Carlton, told the court that he woke up in the bushes the morning after the crash, “covered in blood, mud and sand”. Simon Courtney (50), who is a mutual funds lawyer, said he had very little memory of what happened after the crash in January 2015 but he denied being drunk and leaving the scene to avoid a breath-test.

Claiming to have sustained a concussion, though there is no medical evidence before the court to substantiate the injury, Courtney said he left the scene to fetch help for what he thought was just one victim and to find a phone because he did not have his own mobile with him as he had left it at home.

Taking the stand Wednesday after the crown closed its case against him for dangerous driving and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cathy and Richard Schubert, the couple he knocked down on the West Bay Road, he revealed his version of events.

Courtney said he left the Ritz, with his wife in the passenger seat, at around 5pm that day, having been there for some five hours. But he had been drinking slowly during the $120 brunch, which includes unlimited champagne, and was not drunk as he knew he would be driving home.

He denied speeding away from the venue and skidding out of control on the wet roads before ploughing into the couple, who were walking along the pavement. Courtney stated that he was driving at a normal speed but suddenly felt a loss of traction in the rear wheel before the car swerved violently to the left. As he tried to correct it, he lost control of the Ford Mustang 633 HP and the car began to spin.

He said when the car came to a stop, he saw that he had hit a woman and immediately went to her assistance as he was trained in first aid. But as he tried to help, he said, another woman asked him to leave her alone. After that, he said, he stood up and intended to return to Seven, the restaurant at the Ritz where he had just had brunch, to call 911.

But Courtney admitted taking a strange route back to the restaurant. Even though he told the court he had brunch there every Sunday, he said he got lost because he became disoriented and confused, a state he put down to a head injury or shock.

A combination of witnesses and CCTV confirmed that Courtney left the scene through the Villas of the Galleon car park, passing several people with phones who were calling 911. He clambered over a wall and then entered the Ritz Residences and not Seven. CCTV shows him burst in and stumble through the door and pass a desk with a phone. As a result of the evidence before the court, he also admitted passing staff, including a security officer carrying a medical bag who was rushing to the scene, but said he could not remember it.

Courtney said he wandered around the Ritz Residences disoriented and lost, not able to find the restaurant. But the camera footage shows him passing the door to the restaurant inside and going across the Seven patio, before crossing the Ritz pool area, passing phones and people, then disappearing off towards the beach without stopping to talk with anyone or call 911.

Courtney told the court, on oath, that he has almost no memory of what he did then but said he believes he went on to the beach. The lawyer said he found himself near Grand View condos, several miles down Seven Mile Beach from the Ritz, where he lived before he moved to his current home at Britannia.

But the next thing he remembered, he said, was waking up around 5am under a bush on the golf course near his home, “covered in blood, mud and sand” with a gash on his head that he believed he had sustained during the crash.

Struggling to stand, he eventually staggered home, he said, where he found his wife, whom he had left at the scene the previous day. Courtney said he then contacted a friend who was a lawyer and they went to the police station at around 7am but he said he was told to go back at 10pm that night. There is no record, however, of this alleged visit to the police.

Later that day, following a phone call to his wife from the police officer in charge of the case, he was asked to go to the station. He arrived at around 5pm — a full 24 hours after the smash — where he was arrested and bailed to return for interview at a later date.

As he recounted the events, Courtney spoke of remembering some things clearly and not others, but he repeatedly denied that he was drunk or that his behavior after hitting the couple was because he was drunk. He blamed his behavior on shock and the head injury, not drunkenness, as he insisted his intention when he left the scene was to call 911. He said he did not go home because of the confusion and disorientation.

Based on evidence of the waiter at Seven, his own claims of having a glass of champagne per hour during service and the nature of the brunch, crown prosecutor Trisha Hutchinson suggested that Courtney had consumed at least five glasses of champagne.

She said he sped off in what he called his “super” car at high speed on a wet road. Having lost control of the car and ploughed into the Schuberts, he then left the scene to avoid police, as he knew he had caused serious injury and was drunk. She said he stayed away from home for many hours and the authorities for a full 24 hours to avoid a breath test, all of which he denied.

Courtney talked about remembering the details of the lunch until around 3pm, claiming that he was drinking very slowly, but did not remember much between 3 and 5pm, after champagne service. However, he said he believed he was drinking water and coffee.

He remembered very specific details of losing control of his car and the subsequent collision and running to assist the woman but had no memory of the fact that Cathy Schubert was severely injured, having been scalped after scraping her face and head on the concrete. Courtney said that when he went to attend to the victim, she was not covered in blood and stated that he did not see her husband.

But after that his memory fades again as he said he became lost and disoriented in the Ritz Residences. Although he said he went to the hospital before going to the police station and was told he had a concussion, there is no medical evidence to support the claim, though a picture taken at the police station shortly afterwards shows a small cut above his head.

The case continues.