Mum breaks down in tears as bus driver who hit and killed her 14-year-old son is sentenced: ‘Blew our family apart’

The mother of a 14-year-old student who died in a fatal bus crash outside his school broke down in tears on Friday as she told media that the woman responsible “tore our family apart.”

Cameron Millen was waiting with a group of other students outside Macarthur Anglican School in Cobbitty, Sydney, at 3pm on February 15, 2023, when he was fatally struck by a public bus.

The bus was being driven by Penina Lopesi, 56, when it mounted the sidewalk and hit a ninth-grader.

The bus driver was due to appear in court in Campbelltown on Friday to hear his sentence after he admitted dangerous driving and killing Cameron in a designated waiting area.

The bus driver was sentenced to at least one year in prison with one year of non-parole and a three-year driving ban. She will be eligible for parole in September 2025.

The court was told that she jumped out of the bus station with 31 students before the bus drove onto the sidewalk.

In the critical 13 seconds that followed, the bus shot across the public road, hit a tree and ran over Cameron, before crashing into a steel pole.

Judge David Arnott SC noted that an estimated 200 students were in the area at the time of the crash, some of whom were ‘at risk of serious injury or death’.

CCTV footage from the bus showed the 56-year-old driver driving away from the bus stop with her left hand on the steering wheel and her other hand hanging loosely at her side.

Judge Arnott said her “inattention” meant she had not “paid due attention to the road ahead” and had not “driven the bus properly” at the crucial bend.

‘When the bus drove onto the pavement she panicked and for the next 13 seconds no other conclusion can be drawn than that she accidentally put her foot on the accelerator instead of the footbrake and that she therefore played with the handbrake in vain, with catastrophic consequences,’ he found.

During her sentencing hearing, Lopesi wept as she told the court she had tried to pull the handbrake as the bus swerved across the pavement.

“I pulled him up, but he went back down,” Lopesi explained.

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

The court heard that no skid marks were found at the scene of the accident and that an expert had found no mechanical problems that could have caused the incident.

Lopesi admitted that she did not sound the horn to warn the students as the bus came towards them at high speed, telling the court that she was “in a panic.”

Surveillance footage of the driver after the collision shows her holding her hand over her mouth and then violently shaking her head back and forth several times.

Students behind her can be seen panicking as they try to get off the bus. Judge Arnott notes that some students tried to escape before the driver opened the doors.

The bus driver stated that she was “in shock” and that was why she did not leave her seat to help the students on or off the bus.

The court was told that the 55-year-old woman had been involved in another accident on a bus two years earlier and had nine traffic violations to her name.

Judge Arnott described her driving as “not good” but said she was a person of “good character” and had been described favourably in character references given to the court.

He said Lopesi was “visibly upset” during the proceedings and acknowledged she was “deeply remorseful and regretful for her actions”.

The judge acknowledged that the bus driver had been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Passing sentence in a courtroom packed with Cameron’s family and friends, Judge Arnott acknowledged that “no prison sentence can bring back a loved one”.

He told the court he had placed “great value” in the moving victim impact statements read by Cameron’s family, who are “devastated by his death”.

“Simply put, they have been shattered and changed forever,” Judge Arnott said.

Outside court, Cameron’s mother Michelle Millen said his family was “shocked” by what they saw on the “horrific” CCTV footage.

“This sentencing hearing has raised more questions than it has answered,” she said.

“What remains unexplained is why. There was no mechanical failure, there was no medical incident.”

Ms Millen pointed to Lopesi’s driving record, which included violations for running red lights and driving with unbelted minors.

“Given what we’ve learned, we want to know why she was allowed to be behind the wheel of a bus with children in her care. And we want to know why our youngest son died,” she said.

We keep trying to find answers.

‘Mrs. Lopesi tore our family apart and we will spend the rest of our lives trying to pick up the pieces.’