Christine Helen Chatterton pleads not guilty following Huntingfield double-fatal crash

A bus driver has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of a father and young daughter by negligent driving in Huntingfield last year. LATEST FROM COURT >>

A bus driver has pleaded not guilty to allegedly causing the death of a father and young daughter by negligent driving in Huntingfield last year.

Christine Helen Chatterton, 68, appeared before Magistrate Sam Mollard at the Hobart Magistrates Court on Friday.

Ms Chatterton pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing the death of another person by negligent driving on August 13 last year.

According to court documents, both charges allege Ms Chatterton had driven at an excessive speed, failed to maintain a safe distance, applied excessive brake pressure, and failed to take all reasonable precautions to avoid a collision.

Floral tributes and a small toy unicorn lay at the fatal crash site on Algona Road, where a Huntingfield father and his young daughter died in a car crash. Photo: Phil Young

Ms Chatterton lives in Blackmans Bay, near where the crash occurred in southern Tasmania.

Police at the time said the crash killing a 42-year-old man and his two-year-old daughter was “a traumatic scene” that will “shake the whole community”.

Police said the head-on collision involved a white 1998 Hino passenger bus and a black Lexus sedan.

The defence lawyer sought a hearing for Ms Chatterton, and the prosecutor asked for the hearing to run over two days, anticipating “lengthy legal submissions”.

But Mr Mollard, who is an acting magistrate in his retirement, said he had seen similar cases before being dragged out because of “insufficient decision making” and feared the same would happen again.

Double fatality crash on Algona Road between Kingston and Blackmans Bay. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“I also have concerns about the fact that I have my own deadline,” he said.

“If the matter wasn’t finished either in relation to the finalisation of the evidence and submissions and I’d been in the position to hand down my judgment on the matter by (December 24), then you’re all going to have to start again, because that’s the cut-off.”

Mr Mollard adjourned the matter for mention on October 11, where a hearing date is expected to be set out.

Mr Mollard asked the defence and prosecution to “come back to me with a bit more certainty about your witnesses, who’s going to be called, what the issues are”.