Truck driver George Kyriakidis, 45, pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving occasioning death at his trial on Tuesday.

He will argue that he was paying attention at all times when his tipper truck knocked over Sydney schoolboy Joseph ‘Jason’ Nguyen, 16, just 200m from the student’s home on 31 August, 2018.

A jury at Downing Centre District Court watched horrific CCTV footage of the moment the schoolboy’s body was crushed by the tipper truck driven by Mr Kyriakidis, who was allegedly on the phone when he crossed a painted median strip onto the wrong side of the road in an illegal turn on a busy Bankstown street.

Footage watched by the jury showed the schoolboy crashing to the asphalt after being knocked off his feet. In the collision, the truck drove forward over the boy’s body causing injuries that resulted in his death shortly after being taken to Liverpool hospital.

Though Mr Kyriakidis admits that the right-hand manoeuvre was illegal, but he states that he was paying attention. His barrister, Brett Longville, admitted the case was a “real tragedy” but said his client had “slowly” moved the truck to turn into Edward Street and could not see the person on the road due to the shape of his vehicle.

A father of three, Mr Kyriakidis was accompanied by his wife and daughter at yesterday’s case.