Sydney bus driver found guilty over two deaths in fatal crash

A Sydney driver, 50-year-old Luis Rojas, has been found guilty of two deaths in a fatal crash after his bus slammed into a scooter with two men in Kingsgrove last year.

The Crown argued during a four-day trial that Luis Rojas was so distracted and in breach of proper management and control of his vehicle that it was ‘an accident waiting to happen’.

The District Court jury returned its verdict on Thursday, after retiring to deliberate on Wednesday afternoon, reported 7 News.

In a CCTV footage, the driver could be seen attempting to put his seatbelt on numerous occasions in the three-and-a-half minutes leading up to the crash took place on January 28 last year.

He was seen donning his reading glasses to inspect a piece of paper, checking his mobile phone three times, pushing buttons on the ticket machine and plugging a cord into the vehicle’s sound system.

Two men riding on the scooter including 32-year-old Chen Guan Wei and 44-year-old Su-Po Hsu had lost their lives in the fatal crash. Wei had ended up crumpled under the tyre of a vehicle, whereas, Hsu was found lying about 50 metres away.

It emerged that the scooter had been stopped with its indicator and brake light on, and with both men in high visibility jackets, as Rojas attempted to veer left before “it was too late,” he told police soon after.

Defence lawyer Varinder Pawar said his divided attention was not the same as inattention.

He described issues with the mirrors having to be readjusted after going over bumps on the road, the inclination of the street and blinding headlights from oncoming cars among conditions that affected Rojas’ ability to identify hazards.