Bateau Bay: Bus driver Craig Marjoram sentenced over causing Leigh Black’s death

A veteran bus driver was so worried about kids darting out from his blind spot he failed to see the middle-aged woman on the pedestrian crossing right in front of him, a court has heard.

Bateau Bay: Bus driver Craig Marjoram leaving Gosford District Court after being sentenced over causing Leigh Black’s death. Picture: NewsLocal

An experienced bus driver of more than two decades experience, with a virtually flawless record, has been sentenced to the equivalent of jail after he ran over a woman on a pedestrian crossing in a case a judge has described as “disturbing”.

Craig Hollan Marjoram, of Killarney Vale, faced Gosford District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to a single count of dangerous driving occasioning the death of Leigh Black.

The court heard the veteran Red Bus driver of 22-years experience had been on a routine shift on the morning of August 19, 2022, when he was waiting to turn right from Bay Village Rd into an unnamed road at the Woolworths end of Bateau Bay Shopping Centre at 9.26am.

The 65-year-old driver would later tell officers he was wary of the intersection, which features a marked pedestrian crossing joining the shopping centre entry and the public car park across the road, because “people walk out in front of buses”.

The court heard Marjoram was looking to his right, to make sure no one was entering the crossing on his blind spot, when he completely failed to see 46-year-old Ms Black already half way across in front of him.

Bateau Bay: Bus driver Craig Marjoram is sentenced over causing Leigh Black’s death

“I was coming around the corner there,” he told police in his recorded interview.

“I just heard the scream, I didn’t even see her.”

Marjoram told police shortly after the crash — and again from the witness stand in court — that he was “sorry for what I had done” and the heartache he had put Ms Black’s family through.

Mother-of-two and small business owner Leigh Black, 46, was tragically killed when she was hit by a bus outside Bateau Bay Square Shopping Centre on August 19. Picture: Facebook

“I remember saying I have hit someone and I’m sorry for what I have done and I will never drive buses again,” he told the court of his admissions to police immediately after the collision.

“It was my fault, yeah.”

Ms Black was struck by the front corner of the bus and knocked to the ground where she was run over by the front right side tyre, killing her instantly.

Several of Ms Black’s family provided victim impact statements to the court including her brother who said she died in a “horrific and undignified” way, which was made worse by the fact she was on a pedestrian crossing designed to provide safety.

He said it was also made worse because Marjoram was a professional bus driver whose job was to ensure road safety.

Ms Black was killed when she stepped out onto this pedestrian crossing and was hit by the bus being driven by Marjoram. Picture: Google

“Every time I see a bus I wince,” he told the court of the “profound impact” his sister’s death has had on his family.

Judge David Wilson described the facts — and CCTV footage from the shopping centre showing the moment of impact — as “disturbing”.

Judge Wilson said Marjoram had a “low moral culpability” given he was looking right “guarding against a risk of other pedestrians coming from the other side” at the time and only looked away for “two seconds”.

However Judge Wilson said it was established by the facts that Ms Black had been on the pedestrian crossing for about four seconds when she was struck.

He sentenced Marjoram to an intensive correction order (ICO) for two years to expire on March 20, 2026.