Former driver guilty of negligent driving occasioning GBH

Craig Graham, a former bus driver for Capebase who continued to be employed on a run driving special needs children from Blayney to Carenne Special School has pleaded guilty and been convicted of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm in Bathurst Local Court.

Mid last year, Craig Graham was turning from William into Howick Street in Bathurst when he struck an older woman, writing the bus off and seriously damaging the woman. The woman has had to have quite serious surgery on her hips following the injury. Following this incident, Graham was charged with negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, one of the most serious of all driving offences. Despite this and his continual attempts to defraud the department, he continued to drive for Capebase until he was replaced by Steve Minshull in March.

"Blayney Lady", who has a student on the bus said that a number of parents in Blayney had contacted Neil Moon after hearing of Graham being charged and demanded that he be sacked or that their children be allocated to another run. Neil Moon refused at the time, saying that he wasn't confident that Graham had done anything wrong and that students were not at risk due to his driving. When Graham was sacked, Moon contacted parents and talked Minshull up, claiming he was "far better" than Craig Graham and had a "wealth of experience" in special needs transport.

When the matter was before the court on Friday, 17 June, Graham's solicitor James Horsbrough of Bird Legal told Magistrate Jan Stevenson that his client was pleading guilty but wished to explain that the accident happened because the corner was blind and he was unable to see the woman crossing the road. The court then took a short recess so the magistrate could examine the corner with the prosecutor and Graham's solicitor.

After the recess, the magistrate sentenced Graham, placing him on a 9 month good behaviour bond and disqualifying him from driving for 12 months.