Sydney garbage truck driver Christopher Sultana avoids jail in fatal accident

A garbage truck driver who hit and killed a grandmother during a three-point turn in western Sydney has escaped jail after a court heard he was devastated by his actions and will live with the incident for the rest of his life will carry with them.

Christopher Sultana, 34, was emptying bins in Chester Hill on the morning of February 23, 2021 as he reached the end of a residential street and turned around at an intersection to gain access to the bins on the opposite side.

Ruiming Zhang, 84, who had been taking her usual morning walk, crossed the road as the truck completed the three-point turn and was in the vehicle’s blind spot when it started moving forward at around 8:30 a.m. She was hit and killed instantly.

On Wednesday, NSW District Court Judge Sophia Beckett said Sultana failed to notice the approaching woman on the truck’s rear-view camera, which should have been a warning that a pedestrian was nearby.

Cars had crossed in front of the truck, the judge said, resulting in Sultana showing “critical but temporary” inattention to the other movements around him.

Sultana pleaded guilty to negligent driving, which resulted in death in the incident, and was acquitted solely of the more serious charge of dangerous driving resulting in death at a trial.

Beckett found Sultana guilty Wednesday and sentenced him to a two-year community corrections order that requires him to do 200 hours of community service, undergo counseling and complete the traffic offender program.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years from the date of the accident.

The judge said Sultana “effectively suffered a breakdown” after the incident, expressed immediate remorse and asked police if he could contact the victim’s family to send a card or flowers. The police advised him that this was not appropriate.