Truck Driver in School Bus Crash Seeks Children’s Testimony on Injuries

A truck driver accused of crashing into a school bus with dozens of children on board has asked for eight students to testify about the seriousness of their injuries.

Melbourne magistrates court is hearing the case of a truck driver-Image Source: The Guardian

Brett Russell has been charged with 46 offences, including dangerous driving causing serious injury and reckless conduct endangering life, over the September 2022 crash.

The bus, with 27 Loreto College Ballarat students on board, was on its way to the airport to take the children on the trip of a lifetime to Nasa space camp in the US, the court previously heard.

Russell is accused of ignoring warning signs to brake and rear-ending the school bus, allegedly forcing it to roll down an embankment off the Western Highway at Pentland Hills, west of Melbourne, on 21 September.

About 30 people were injured in the crash, ranging from bruising to someone requiring an almost total foot amputation.

Russell’s lawyer, John Lavery, applied for the children and some medical specialists to be called as witnesses at a contested hearing later this year.

Lavery said that two of the children had not been seen by a doctor and that the only evidence of their injuries came from their own accounts.

He also said that the injuries of another child had been assessed as not meeting the criteria for serious injury by a hospital trauma registrar.

The prosecution opposed the application, arguing that the children’s testimony would be unnecessary and could be traumatic for them.

Magistrate Peter Reardon has not yet ruled on the application.


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