Details of bus death emerge

A METRO bus driver put his head on a colleague’s shoulder and sobbed when he realised a woman had died after being hit by his bus on a wet winter evening, the Hobart Magistrates Court has heard.

Stephen Murray Hartstonge, 61, of Cygnet, has pleaded not guilty to causing death by negligent driving.

The prosecution and defence agree Queensland Police officer Wendy Evans, 46, was killed when she was run over by the bus just after 6pm on July 22, 2016.

“The issue to be determined is whether or not Ms Evans’s death was caused by Mr Hartstonge’s negligence,” the prosecutor said yesterday.

In an affidavit tendered to in court that was sworn on the night of the incident, Mr Hartstonge said when he turned right into Campbell St from Macquarie St that evening, “I did not see any pedestrians”.

“I felt a thud/impact to my right hand corner of the bus,” he said.

“I then felt the bus over something.”

Mr Hartstonge said he braked heavily and turned the bus’s hazard lights on, then radioed for help.

“I told them I had an emergency, I told them I thought I drive had cleaned up a pedestrian,” he said. “I saw a body underneath the bus ... I went back to my radio [and said] I needed police and ambulance to attend.”

Fellow bus driver Kevin van der Veer was nearby when the incident happened.

He told the court he went over to Mr Hartstonge, who wanted to pull Ms Evans out from under the bus.

“I just said, ‘leave her, she’s gone’,” he said.

“Stephen just put his head on my shoulder and started sobbing and I was just putting my arms around him.”

Tasmania Police forensic officer Senior Constable Paul Hyland told the court Ms Evans was dressed in black clothing and was carrying a large light brown paper bag.

He said a street light, on the Hotel Grand Chancellor side of the intersection, was not working at the time.

Witnesses told the court the road was wet and the overcast conditions meant it was an especially dark evening.

Rebecca Kardos, a passenger in a car stopped in Macquarie St at the intersection with Campbell St at the time of the incident, said she saw it happen.

Ms Kardos told the court she saw a pedestrian crossing Campbell St about 1½ car lengths to the south of the pedestrian crossing area.