Cameron Millen: Mum recalls son’s harrowing final moments after he was hit by a bus at Macarthur Anglican School, Cobbitty

A mother burst into tears as she described the moment she watched her 14-year-old son die after being 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, south-west Sydney, when he was fatally struck by a bus at 3pm on February 15 last year.

The bus was being driven by Penina Lopesi, 55, when it mounted the pavement and hit the schoolboy.

Lopesi has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in connection with the fatal crash, the aftermath of which was described by Cameron’s mother Michelle in Campbelltown District Court on Tuesday.

She burst into tears as she recalled arriving at the school and screaming, “It’s my son,” as she tried to push past emergency workers to get to the 14-year-old.

“I can tell he’s dying by the way his eyes are staring up at the sky,” she said in her emotional victim impact statement.

“I want him to know that I’m there, that he’s not alone.”

Cameron was taken to hospital in Liverpool with life-threatening injuries but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Mrs Millen said she is “always in pain” over her son’s death and 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 waited for him to have when he would grow old, the promises unfulfilled,” she asked.

‘The gaping hole in my chest is an open wound. It won’t heal.’

Ms Millen said she will “never forgive” Lopesi after her actions “devastated her family”.

“I cannot believe someone who chose to remain hidden in his car when my son died, who chose to hide the truth from the police, and 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 my family’s future”.

“Knowing that there will be no girlfriends, job interviews, driving lessons and the hundreds of other moments we could have had with Cameron leaves me empty and sad,” he said.

“Our house, once full of noise, is now silent.”

Mr Millen said he was “angry and lost” and still struggling with the loss of his “cheeky… mini self”.

“I’m angry that Cameron went to school and never came home,” he said through tears.

‘I am angry that I am completely powerless in this procedure and have no say in what happens next, even though it will have a huge impact on my life.’

There were “no charges” that could adequately address Lopesi’s role in changing the family’s lives forever, Mr Millen told the court.

A tearful Lopesi told the court she could not sleep because her “brain was still going to the family” of the dead teenager.

“I’m stressed. I can’t sleep,” she said through an interpreter.

The 55-year-old woman told the court that she had tried to pull the handbrake as the bus drove over the sidewalk near the school.

“I pulled him up, but he went back down,” the driver said with tears in his eyes.

‘I tried to use the foot brake, but I didn’t realize I was pressing the gas pedal.’

Lopesi admitted that she did not sound the horn to warn the students when the bus drove onto the grass.

“I panicked,” she said.

The prosecutor pointed out that she had taken “no measures whatsoever” during the crash.

The court was shown footage of the inside of the bus when it crashed. The students inside were shocked and tried to get out.

The footage shows Lopesi holding her hand over her mouth after the crash and then shaking her head vigorously several times.

She agreed with the prosecutor’s statement that she had not gotten off the bus to provide assistance or helped the students on the bus.

“I was in shock,” the driver said.

The court heard that the 55-year-old had been behind the wheel of a bus in another accident two years earlier.

The bus’s tires were spinning in the wet conditions before it crashed into a tree in July 2021, Lopesi explained.

The prosecutor noted that the bus driver had a number of traffic violations to her name, including running a red light and using a cell phone while driving.

Lopesi admitted she failed to report the offences on her application form for a bus driver position with NSW Roads and Maritime Services, but her lawyer pointed out there was not enough space on the form.

When sentencing Lopesi later this year, Judge David Arnott SC will also take into account an alternative charge of reckless driving causing death and a related charge of failing to provide her details to police.