A truck driver who knew his truck brakes were faulty and crashed into the back of a school bus has been jailed for more than a decade.
Brett Michael Russell crashed his truck into the bus carrying dozens of Loreto College students from Ballarat to Melbourne Airport for a once-in-a-lifetime NASA camp in the United States in September 2022.
Truck driver Brett Michael Russell has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for crashing into the back of a school bus, injuring dozens of children.Credit: Jason South
On Monday, Russell, 63, was sentenced to 12 years and nine months after he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of negligently causing serious injury and two counts of conduct endangering persons.
He admitted to injuring 27 students, four school employees and the bus driver, and endangering three roadside workers near the scene of the crash on the Western Highway, near Bacchus Marsh.
The court was told Russell knew the brakes on his truck and the two trailers he was towing were faulty.
County Court Judge Michael O’Connell accepted the driver had shown genuine remorse and was concerned about the victims after the crash, even asking about them as he was being pulled from the wrecked cabin.
“I must make clear … your genuine remorse cannot be allowed to obscure the harm this offending has caused,” the judge said.
The truck driver knew he was taking a serious risk when he got behind the wheel of a truck with faulty brakes.
“How you thought you would be fine is difficult to fathom,” O’Connell said.
Russell must serve at least eight years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.
When the sentence was read out, Russell, who appeared via video link, appeared shocked and mouthed a curse word.
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