A truck driver who crashed into the back of a school bus, seriously injuring seven children, should not be seen as the villain, his lawyer has told a jury.

But he denies driving dangerously in the lead-up to the crash where seven primary school students were seriously hurt.

“We acknowledge this event is a tragedy but not all tragedies have a villain,” Gleeson’s barrister James Anderson told the Victorian County Court jury.

Gleeson entered not guilty pleas to seven counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury at the start of his trial on Wednesday.

The jury was told there were 46 children on the bus that left Exford Primary School on the afternoon of May 16, 2023.

The bus drove about 900 metres along Exford Road before it slowed and indicated to turn right onto Murphys Road, the jury was told. 

Gleeson was driving behind the bus and collided with the back of the other vehicle as it began its right-hand turn, causing the bus to spin and roll onto its side.

Crash scene investigators determined the truck skidded for about 25 metres before the collision and was going 67km/h at the point of impact, the jury was told.

A later assessment of the truck found its brakes were faulty although Gleeson was not aware of the issues and the truck had been regularly serviced. 

Gleeson did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash and there was no evidence of speeding or that he used his phone before the collision. 

But prosecutor Neill Hutton SC told the jury Gleeson either failed to maintain a proper distance from the school bus or he did not pay sufficient attention to its movements.

Anderson pointed to his client’s record of interview with police immediately after the collision, where Gleeson answered more than 700 questions. 

Gleeson maintained he did not see the brake lights or indicator of the bus until the last second, Anderson said.

“(He) told the police, ‘It was like the bus had forgotten to turn’,” the barrister told the jury.

It was disputed that Gleeson did not keep an appropriate distance from the bus or that he was not paying sufficient attention, Anderson told the jury. 

He urged the jurors to consider what the prosecution could not prove and what they still did not know about the lead-up to the collision. 

After the opening addresses concluded, bus driver Graham Stanley began his evidence and described the moment of impact.

“It launched the bus forward in a rapid motion,” Stanley told the jury.

“It just felt extreme – it wasn’t a fender bender.”

Stanley admitted he could not recall whether he was wearing a seatbelt, although he was confident all of the students were wearing one.

His evidence will continue on Thursday.