A woman is slowly recovering after suffering a fractured spine when she was crushed by a sofa that fell from the roof of a building.

Edita Butkeviciute, 30, is expected to be in hospital for the next three months after she suffered injuries to her spine, legs and lungs following the incident in Aberdeen city centre on 7 December. Doctors were initially unsure if she would walk again.

Butkeviciute had to have two operations and is slowly recovering and doing well, her boyfriend, Daniel Ferreira, said.

“She is recovering well and doing well. She’s strong,” Ferreira said. He described the incident as a “massive shock” and said he gripped with fear when he got a phone call from his partner, who was being seen by first responders. “I was on the phone to her. I was just afraid and really scared.”

Butkeviciute was quickly taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by the Scottish ambulance service. “When she first got to the hospital, they had to see if she was going to walk again. She had two surgeries,” Ferreira said.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland confirmed two men aged 31 and 26 had been charged. “A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.”



Butkeviciute told the BBC she was lucky to be alive. “I remember just waking up, I screamed really loud for help and started feeling cold. I couldn’t move,” she said from her hospital bed.

She added: “When I woke up the second time I saw the sofa just in front of me – a burgundy, three-seater leather sofa.”

She told the public broadcaster: “It’s like little simple stuff I cannot do now – I will be in here for three months until I fully recover. Thankfully I am not paralysed.

“The doctor said: ‘You are so lucky.’ I am very lucky, I will still be able to live my life as normal. I am alive.”

The couple have been together for over 10 years and live together. Her boyfriend Ferreira said he would be making regular visits to the hospital to see her.

“I’m going to be here until she is able to to come back home. I’ll come home every day, regardless of my shift schedule. If I’m working in the morning, I’ll come in the evening and if I’m working in the evening, I’ll come in the morning,” Ferreira said.

He added he didn’t mind spending Christmas at the hospital. “As long as I’m next to her I’m happy.”