Brett Russell: Truck driver jailed over ‘nightmare’ Loreto College bus crash
A truck driver who got behind the wheel knowing his brakes were faulty has learnt his fate after a horror crash with a school bus.
A truck driver who knew his brakes were faulty when he crashed into the back of a school bus carrying dozens from an all-girls school has been jailed for more than a decade.
Brett Michael Russell, 63, returned to the County Court of Victoria on Monday as Judge Michael O’Connell sentenced him to serve 12 years and 9 months behind bars.
Russell had earlier pleaded guilty to 10 counts of negligently causing serious injury and two counts of recklessly engaging in conduct that placed a total of 24 people at risk of serious injury.
The New Zealand-born driver appeared via video link from prison, where he has spent the past 230 days, while more than 30 family members of those injured in the crash filled up the courtroom.
Russell, who was also injured in the crash, could be seen holding a walking stick and staring out the window before the hearing began.
Outlining the case, Judge O’Connell said Russell crashed into the back of a Loreto College school bus on the Western Hwy shortly after 3.15am on September 21, 2022, near Bacchus Marsh.
The students were on their way to Melbourne Airport for a NASA space camp in the United States.
The bus was pushed through a barrier and rolled several times as it careered down a steep embankment.
Ten of the 32 people on the bus were seriously injured, while the remainder, including students, staff and the bus driver, sustained significant physical and psychological injuries.
Three days prior, the court was told, Russell had learned the engine brakes on his B-double truck were not working properly, but chose to continue working as there were no other trucks available.
He drove two trailers to South Australia where he swapped them with two returning to Melbourne.
Russell was warned by Bryan Edgar, the truck driver with whom he’d swapped the trailers, that the brakes on the new trailers were “stuffed” but continued to drive anyway.
“I thought I was still fine. Yeah, if I didn’t think I was fine I wouldn't have proceeded,” he later told police.
Shortly before the crash, he told investigators he’d “used up” his air brakes on a steep hill but continued on because “all I wanted to do was get to the rest area”.
The crash occurred at a section of the Western Hwy where traffic management had dropped the speed limit from 110km/h to 40km/h due to an earlier unrelated incident.
“I thought, you know, I’ll still be right,” he said.
“And then just as you come around that left-hand corner I then seen the sign. I knew I was f--ked.
“You’re 62 tonne and you’re going down a hill and you’ve run out of air ... nothing is gunna stop that truck.”
He said he wished he’d decided to drive off the road and “it would have just been me” to save the school group the “misery and hell they’re going through”.
Judge O’Connell read through an extensive list of injuries suffered by students and staff in the crash, including partial amputation of a foot, broken bones, spinal fractures, lacerations and psychological damage.
“For many, this experience was a nightmare,” he said.
“Here the summaries of injuries sustained together with the victim impact statements speak for themselves.
“They make it plain that the devastation, pain and ongoing debilitating effects suffered by the passengers, their families and the wider school community has been catastrophic.”
The judge said he was “well satisfied” Russell appreciated from the outset the wrongfulness of his actions and the harm caused, giving frank admissions to police that assisted in his prosecution.
Judge O’Connell said police had interviewed Mr Edgar, the second truck driver, who had claimed he’d had “no issues with anything on the trailers”.
“It would appear that Mr Edgar had not been frank with investigators,” the judge said.
“In that light, had you exercised your right to silence or lied to investigators, your knowledge of the defective trailer brakes may have been difficult to prove.”
Russell will be eligible for parole after serving eight years of his sentence.
Outside of court, Loreto College Principal Michelle Brodrick said she hoped her students and their families can now move on from the tragedy of the crash.
“It’s been over three years and I’m glad that now our families and our students can move on,” she said.
“It’s really important that truck drivers do take responsibility and I was really glad that Brett Russell did take responsibility for what he had done from the very beginning.
“The last of the students finished Year 12 this year and so we’ve had three years of them finishing and getting through. They’ve all had some really difficult and hard challenges over that time but I know now that they’re doing their best for whatever comes from now on.”
Originally published as Brett Russell: Truck driver jailed over ‘nightmare’ Loreto College bus crash
