A bus driver was adamant a pedestrian had come out of nowhere onto the road when his vehicle struck and killed her at a Sydney intersection.
Michael Yammouni pleaded not guilty to one count of dangerous driving occasioning death after the bus he was driving hit and killed 24-year-old Mimi Feng at an intersection in Sydney’s Bondi Junction in December 2020.
The Padstow man said, in a police interview played in the District Court, Ms Feng had come out of nowhere as he was turning left at the intersection.
“I don’t know where she came from. When the light turned green, I went, there was nobody there,” he told officers.
“I’m sure I cleared my vision. I cleared my pathway to turn.”
Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman on Tuesday argued the bus driver did not keep a proper lookout and his driving led to Ms Feng's death.
She said he had failed to give way to the 24-year-old who was crossing the road when the pedestrian light turned green.
The traffic light did not have a separate left turn signal, instead vehicles were required to give way to pedestrians before turning.
“The accused turned left immediately and didn’t give way,” Ms Steedman said.
The bus driver conceded in the police interview he had moved his bus forward at the intersection into the pedestrian crossing walkway while waiting at the red light to allow another bus to turn into the Bondi Junction interchange.
He maintained he still would have been able to see pedestrians to his left with a turn of his head despite being further up.
“Whether she was distracted, whether she walked onto the road after I had turned, the only explanation is that she was distracted,” he told officers at the time.
Yammouni started his shift at 5am and had completed four trips along the 389 bus route that day.
He had finished a 40-minute break and was beginning his trip from Bondi Junction to Pyrmont when the incident occurred.
The trial is set to continue on Wednesday.
