The boss of a trucking company tried to "remove a spell" from a delusional driver who said he feared he'd been cursed hours before hitting and killing four police officers.

Convicted killer Mohinder Singh was lead into court unshackled and sat an arm's length from his victims' families as he recounted his version of events of last year's fatal crash for the first time.

Singh was giving testimony against his former boss, Connect Logistics manager Simon Tuteru.

Mr Tuteru is facing 77 charges, including four counts of manslaughter for allegedly failing his duty of care, after Mr Singh killed four police officers on the side of the Eastern Freeway in April last year.

A new police statement tendered to court revealed Singh had told Mr Tuteru he was tired, delusional and believed he'd been cursed by a witch.

Singh has claimed the 50-year-old "talked about witches and curses" then "placed his hand on my head and prayed, saying 'In Jesus' name I cast the spell out of you'".

Singh told the court Mr Tuteru asked him to do "one last load", then he could come back to see how he was feeling and go home.

But less than two hours after departing the depot, Singh ploughed his 19-tonne truck into Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Glen Humphris and Constable Josh Prestney who were in the emergency lane.

The statement revealed Singh called Mr Tuteru immediately after the crash, telling him he fell asleep.

He has alleged his boss told him: "Don't say nothing to no one."

The magistrate will decide whether there is enough evidence for Mr Tuteru to go to trial tomorrow.

Senior Constable Taylor's husband Stuart Shulze was in court today and said it was important to him to face his wife's killer.

"I had to be satisfied myself that I could hear him say what he did that day," Mr Shulze said.

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Two Victorian schools have been forced to close as a result of potential COVID-19 exposure.

Barwon Heads Primary School, south-east of Geelong, and Bacchus Marsh Grammar, to Melbourne's north-east, have both closed temporarily, with some staff and students sent into isolation.

The Department of Health said an infected person was at Barwon Heads Primary on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, while a confirmed case spent Monday at a Bacchus Marsh Grammar staff development day.

READ MORE: Tier One exposure sites continue to climb in Melbourne

It said Barwon Heads Primary School had been directed to close and public health teams were investigating potential exposure to the virus.

"Public health teams are working closely with the leadership and community at both schools," the department said, in a statement,

"Affected individuals will be contacted directly and further updates will be provided when they are available.

"The schools will not be listed as public exposure sites online as comprehensive record-keeping practices were in place."

READ MORE: Victoria shut out as state records new local coronavirus cases

Bacchus Marsh Grammar earlier confirmed a teacher had returned a positive COVID-19 test and the school would be closed for the rest of the week.

"We have been informed that a member of the teaching staff has tested positive for COVID-19. The teacher was at the School's Staff Day on Monday 12 July but has not been in contact with students on either Tuesday 13 July or Wednesday 14 July 2021," school Principal Andrew A Neal said in a statement.

"As a result of this result all staff who were at the Staff Day on Monday 12 July have been directed by the COVID-19 Public Health Division Department of Health to isolate and be tested.

"Given the need for testing of virtually all staff and the need for additional cleaning, there will be no classes at the Woodlea or Maddingley Campus on Thursday and Friday 15-16 July for all students.

"In the event of a longer period of confinement for staff, online learning would commence on Monday 19 July."

READ MORE: PM rejects double standard claims after attack on lockdown payments

The grammar school is awaiting instructions from the Department of Health regarding sanitation and cleaning of the school.

Victoria today recorded seven additional COVID-19 cases in addition to one confirmed overnight.

All cases are linked to known clusters.

Several exposure sites have been identified, including multiple Tier One locations.

The health department is regularly updating the list.

An armed man firing at police has been shot and killed in Hillcrest, Hamilton.Waikato district commander superintendent Bruce Bird said police were at an O’Donoghue St address last night seeking a person in relation to firearms…

A shocked bride-to-be and her furious father have told of their frustrations after their wedding accommodations were cancelled last second due to the NRL's COVID bubble move to Queensland.

Kathryn McDowall was due to marry longtime partner Andrew on the Sunshine Coast this Saturday – with the wedding party booking out 10 rooms at the Novotel Twin Waters.

The family have since been told that their longtime bookings have now been cancelled three days before the event, with their rooms going to The Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles.

READ MORE: Queensland warns of border closure 'considerations' as state records zero local cases

"They haven't even contacted her, and she found out from an uncle," Kathryn's father Kevin told 9News.

"You know, I'm furious."

Kathryn's uncle, supposed to be travelling from Melbourne, only received the email notification last night.

The email reading:

"Regretfully, the Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort has just been advised today that from tomorrow … the property will become a quarantine hotel for 15 days and is now obliged to cancel all upcoming bookings through that period."

"So (Mum) called the hotel straight away, saying 'hey what's the go with our booking? Is it cancelled?' and they were like 'Yep, that's it', Kathryn told 9News.

When asked for comment, a Novotel Representative told 9News that "This isn't something we're able to comment on."

The Queensland Government has also shifted responsibility towards the NRL, with Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles saying that the League should do "everything they can" to help the family.

"There weren't three empty hotels or resorts that the NRL could move into," Mr Miles said.

"I'd simply call on the NRL to do everything they can to accommodate this wedding to help them to find an alternative venue and to appropriately assist and compensate them.

9News understands that the NRL has today reached out to both the hotel and the family.

While Kathryn's family and wedding party have since been able to find scattered accommodation, they still feel like they've been blindsided.

A mother was forced to throw her young child from a burning building during rioting in South Africa set off by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma.

Footage shot by media outlets captured the child being thrown from a building in the city of Durban that was on fire after ground-floor shops were looted.

The mother and child were later safely reunited.

READ MORE: South Africa riots over jailing of ex-leader Jacob Zuma

The death toll climbed to 72 from rioting yesterday, with many people trampled to death during looting at stores, as police and the military fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to halt the unrest.

More than 1200 people have been arrested in the lawlessness that has raged in poor areas of two provinces, where a community radio station was ransacked and forced off the air yesterday and some COVID-19 vaccination centres were closed, disrupting urgently needed inoculations.

Many of the deaths in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces occurred in chaotic stampedes as thousands of people stole food, electric appliances, liquor and clothing from stores, police Major-General Mathapelo Peters said in a statement last night.

He said 27 deaths were being investigated in KwaZulu-Natal province and 45 in Gauteng province.

In addition to the people crushed, he said police were investigating deaths caused by explosions when people tried to break into ATM machines, as well as other fatalities caused by shootings.

The violence broke out after Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court on Thursday.

He had refused to comply with a court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry investigating allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.

The unrest spiralled into a spree of looting in township areas of the two provinces, although it has not spread to South Africa's other seven provinces, where police are on alert.

"The criminal element has hijacked this situation," Premier David Makhura of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, said.

More than half of South Africa's 60 million people are living in poverty, with an unemployment rate of 32 per cent, according to official statistics.

The pandemic, with job layoffs and an economic downturn, has increased the hunger and desperation that helped propel the protests triggered by Zuma's arrest into wider rioting.

"We understand that those unemployed have inadequate food. We understand that the situation has been made worse by the pandemic," an emotional Mr Makhura said on the state South African Broadcasting Corp.

"But this looting is undermining our businesses here (in Soweto). It is undermining our economy, our community. It is undermining everything."

The deployment of 2500 soldiers to support the South African police has so far failed to stop the rampant looting, although arrests were being made in some areas in Johannesburg, including Vosloorus in the eastern part of the city.