By Aap And Alison Bevege For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 04:38 BST, 1 April 2019 | Updated: 04:38 BST, 1 April 2019
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A garbage truck driver who accidentally ran over a homeless man he mistook for a pile of blankets wept as he was cleared of a negligent driving charge on Monday.
Mathew Hayne, 31, was crushed to death during the morning bin run on May 21 last year in Bourke Lane, in Sydney's inner city suburb of Redfern.
The homeless man who stood at 1.58 metres tall weighed just 53 kilograms as he slept on a thin foam mattress in the narrow laneway.
A garbage truck driver who accidentally ran over a homeless man he mistook for a pile of blankets wept as he was cleared of a negligent driving charge on Monday
Truck driver Ian Juurik, 36, from Rockdale in Sydney's south, had not realised Mr Hayne was there and mistook him for a pile of blankets as he navigated the difficult and narrow lane at slower than walking pace, avoiding cars and walls.
Mr Hayne was trapped under the truck with critical injuries and though paramedics treated him at the scene he could not be saved.
Mr Juurik held his head in his hands and wiped away tears in the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday as magistrate Jennifer Giles acquitted him of negligent driving causing death.
Mr Juurik outside the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Monday after being acquitted of dangerous driving causing death over the tragic accident. The devastated
