A mother broke down in tears as she described the moment she watched her 14-year-old son die after he was hit by a bus while waiting to be picked up from school.
Cameron Millen was waiting with a group of other students outside Macarthur Anglican School in Cobbitty, southwest of Sydney, at 3pm on February 15 last year when he was fatally hit by a bus.
The bus, driven by Penina Lopesi, 55, went onto the pavement and ran over the schoolboy.
Lopesi pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in the fatal crash, the aftermath of which was described by Cameron’s mother Michelle in Campbelltown District Court on Tuesday.
She broke down in tears as she recalled arriving at the school and shouting, “That’s my son,” as she tried to push her way through rescuers to reach the 14-year-old boy.
“I can see he’s dying by the way his little eyes are looking up at the sky,” she recalled in her emotional victim impact statement.
“I need him to know that I’m here, that he’s not alone.”
Cameron was rushed to Liverpool Hospital with life-threatening injuries but was pronounced dead a short time later.
The mother of 14-year-old Cameron Millen (pictured) told the Campbelltown District Court she will never forgive the bus driver who ran over her son and killed him.
Ms Millen said her son’s death has left her “in pain all the time” and that she has cried every day since her son’s untimely death.
“What do I do with the love I feel for him? The broken promises, the vacations not taken, the conversations I hoped he would have when he grew up, the broken promises,” she asked herself.
“The hole in my chest is an open wound that won’t heal.”
Ms Millen said she will “never forgive” Lopesi after his actions “destroyed (her) family”.
“I cannot forgive someone who chose to remain hidden in his vehicle while my son was dying, who chose to hide the truth from the police, whose lawyers spoke to the world and suggested that the murder was due to a mechanical failure of the bus,” she said through tears.
Cameron’s father, Geoffrey, told the court that Lopesi had not only taken Cameron’s life but had also taken my family’s future.
“Knowing there won’t be girlfriends, job interviews, driving lessons and the hundreds of other moments we would have had with Cameron makes me feel empty and sad,” he said.
“Our house, which was once full of noise, is now quiet.”
Michelle Millen (in red) told the court the family has struggled with Cameron’s death.
Cameron’s father Geoffrey (right) said he was “angry and lost” after his son’s death, which “has taken away my family’s future”.
Mr Millen said he was “angry and lost” and was still struggling with the loss of his “cheeky… mini-me”.
“I’m angry that Cameron went to school and never came home,” he said through tears.
“I’m angry that I have no power in this process and I can’t decide what happens next, even though it will have a huge impact on my life.”
“There are no charges” that can adequately address Lopesi’s role in changing the family’s life forever,” Millen told the court.
Lopesi, crying, told the court she couldn’t sleep because her “brain was still on its way to the family” of the deceased teenager.
“I’m stressed, I can’t sleep,” she said through an interpreter.
The 55-year-old woman told the court she had tried to apply the handbrake when the bus veered onto the pavement near the school.
“I picked him up but he came back down,” the driver said through tears.
‘I tried to use the foot brake but I didn’t realize I was pressing the accelerator.’
Lopesi acknowledged that he did not sound the horn to warn the students when the bus was moving across the grass.
“I panicked,” he said.
The Crown prosecutor said he had “taken no corrective action” during the accident.
Bus driver Penina Lopesi, 55, (pictured), pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death over the fatal crash and revealed she has rarely slept since.
The court was shown video from inside the bus as it crashed, shaking students inside as they scrambled to get out.
The footage shows Lopesi placing his hand over his mouth after the accident before frantically shaking his head back and forth several times.
She agreed with the Crown prosecutor’s suggestions that she had not left the bus to render assistance nor moved to assist students inside the bus.
“I was in shock,” the driver said.
The court heard the 55-year-old had been behind the wheel of a bus during another accident two years earlier.
The bus’s tires skidded in wet conditions before the bus crashed into a tree in July 2021, Lopesi said.
The Crown prosecutor noted that the bus driver had several traffic offences to her name, including running a red light and using a phone while driving.
Lopesi accepted he had failed to disclose the breaches on his application form for a bus driver position with NSW Roads and Maritime Services, but his lawyer said there was not enough space on the form.
When sentencing Lopesi later this year, Judge David Arnott SC will also take into account an additional charge of careless driving occasioning death and a related charge of failing to provide his details to police.
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