A wave of mixed emotions rippled through a crowd of survivors and grieving families in and outside of court in the culmination of a distressing three day hearing for a bus driver crashed driving guests home from a wedding.
Brett Button, 59, was sentenced before Judge Roy Ellis at Newcastle District Court on Wednesday to 32 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 24 years beginning May 8, after the horror bus crash in NSW’s Hunter Valley killed 10 people and injured 25 more in 2023.
Button was driving guests from a wedding reception at the Wandin Valley Estate, two hours north of Sydney, back to Singleton on June 11, 2023 when the bus flipped at a roundabout at Greta.
Button will be eligible for release on parole on May 7, 2048.
Victims’ families and survivors were among those in the packed courtroom after 33 victim’s impact statements were read in front of Button and the judge.
Button’s sentence was reportedly met with cries of ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’ to the judge.
Relatives of two women lost in the crash, Nadene and daughter Kyah McBride appeared outside the court and delivered powerful statements.
Nadene’s niece, Amelia Bowey told onlookers she had faith the sentencing meant nobody would have to go through the trauma her family lives to this day.
A composed Amelia Bowey (above) said she hoped no one will lose loved ones the way she did
Leonie Bowey fought back sobs as she remembered her sister and ‘sassy’ niece outside the court
‘We all went into that courtroom knowing that nothing that judge did would bring our loved ones back,’ she said.
‘But, at the very least I can hope that no one ever has to sit in that witness chair ever again for the same circumstance.’
Her mother Leonie Bowey said the result was what the victims’ had hoped for.
‘The result that they got was tremendous for us,’ she said.
‘But, it will never bring back my beautiful sister Nadene.
‘It will never bring back my sassy niece Kyah,’ she managed before being overcome by sobs.
Other families expressed surprise at the sentence but said that nothing would ever give them closure, or ever make them forgive or forget what Button did.
Families of the victims, and the survivors had previously said they’d lost faith in the justice system after manslaughter charges were dropped against Button as part of a plea deal in for exchange for 10 counts of dangerous driving causing death.
‘For so long, we have felt that the justice system had let us down but today, it has renewed our faith,’ Bec Mullen’s father Matt Mullen told The Daily Telegraph.
‘We feel our loved ones have been recognised, everyone who has suffered has been recognised. It is not going to bring them back but it has shown that they matter.’
Kane Symons’ father Steve had told the court the death of his son left a void that couldn’t be filled.
But, outside court on Wednesday he felt he’d been heard.
‘It showed that they mattered,’ Mr Symons said.
‘It showed they mattered’, Steve Symons (left) outside court after he lost his son in the crash
Victims’ loved ones and survivors appeared in droves to the sentencing after three days and 33 impact statements
Adam Bray chose not to attend the hearing in person, still struggling with the loss of his son Zach 15 months ago.
Zach’s mum Jacqui Varasdi and sister Montana Bray chose to attend this week’s hearing.
His dad welcomed the sentence after watching the sentence proceedings via audiolink in Bali after the crushing and harrowing ordeal.
‘I’m happy with the outcome, I’m surprised and I’m satisfied,’ he said.
‘It is obviously a landmark decision and it was the reason why we agitated.
‘You have got to approach these things with zero expectations because the reality is, if you do not, then the trauma and anger will never dissipate.’
In sentencing, Judge Ellis said Button was under the influence of the opioid-based painkiller tramadol and had ‘abandoned his responsibility’ to his 35 passengers at the time of the crash.
‘Words cannot adequately express the pain, anger, and sadness that permeated the first two days of these proceedings as victim impact statement after victim impact statement was read by and for absolutely distraught, depressed, and devastated family members’ of the deceased and survivors, Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said that in his 50 years in the justice system he had never ‘dealt with, seen, or even read about a case that involved anywhere near the same extent of extraordinary devastation’.
‘Surviving passengers described the trauma of their injuries and scenes of the crash, with unwanted memory of the carnage still present and easily triggered,’ Judge Ellis told the court.
Brett Button, 59, was sentenced before Judge Roy Ellis at Newcastle District Court on Wednesday afternoon to 32 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 24 years beginning May 8
Andrew Scott, 35, his wife Lynan Scott, 33, Nadene McBride, 52, daughter Kyah McBride, 22, and her partner, Kane Symons, 21, Darcy Bulman, 30, Rebecca Mullen, 26, Zachary Bray, 29, Tori Cowburn, 29, and Angus Craig, 28, were killed in the crash
The court was told Button had been driving under the influence of the opioid tramadol, was engaging in risk-taking behaviour, and was driving too fast to be able to negotiate the roundabout.
The Hunter Valley local took to the stand earlier, telling the survivors and families of his victims that he was ‘ashamed’ of what he had done and had ‘committed the ultimate sin’.
‘I can’t forgive myself. I can’t believe I caused this,’ he said.
‘I never meant to hurt anyone in my entire life, and now I have committed the ultimate sin.
‘I have caused parents to have to bury their children … I have done it to so many families.
‘I hate myself and I want to disappear.’
Breaking down during his hours-long examination, Button admitted to driving too fast to safely navigate the roundabout but denied prescription opioids ‘impaired’ his driving.
The court was told Button had taken ‘significantly more’ than his prescribed dosage of tramadol, a short-relief and opioid-abused painkiller, on the day of the horrific crash.
Pressed on whether he believed he ‘knew better’ than doctors who’d tried to limit his use while working as a bus driver, Button admitted after repeated questioning that he thought he did.
In his closing address, barrister Paul Rosser KC told Judge Ellis that he would be sentencing Button on his actions when entering the roundabout, not over the course of the entire journey.
Button was driving guests from a wedding reception at the Wandin Valley Estate, two hours north of Sydney , back to Singleton on June 11, 2023 when the bus flipped at a roundabout at Greta
Button at one point faced a whopping 89 charges, including 10 counts of manslaughter. Those charges were ultimately dropped following a plea deal with police to the anger of families
Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys argued that the risk posed by Button was only ‘realised’ at that moment, with the court told a passenger had described the drive as a ‘like a rollercoaster’.
The court was told Button had been taking tramadol since the 1990s and had been stood down in 2022 by a previous employer after a pain specialist ruled he was addicted to the painkiller.
Button earlier this year pleaded guilty to 19 charges, including 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and nine counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
At least 40 survivors and the families of victims gave evidence in court about the impact of the crash on their lives and the loss of loved ones during two emotional days.
Among them was Graham McBride whose wife Nadene and daughter Kyah were killed in the crash. He told Button that his ‘family tree has been cut down’ and he didn’t ‘have a life anymore’.
Survivors of the crash described the devastating impact of the crash and the chronic injuries they’d been left with, with one woman saying she now suffered from a permanent ‘head tilt’.
Breaking down during his hours-long examination, Button admitted to driving too fast to safely navigate the roundabout but denied prescription opioids ‘impaired’ his driving
The sentencing comes more than 15 months after the horror crash, one of NSW’s – and Australia’s – worst that left the communities of Singleton and the wider Hunter Valley devastated.
Andrew Scott, 35, his wife Lynan Scott, 33, Nadene McBride, 52, daughter Kyah McBride, 22, and her partner, Kane Symons, 21, Darcy Bulman, 30, Rebecca Mullen, 26, Zachary Bray, 29, Tori Cowburn, 29, and Angus Craig, 28, were killed in the crash.
Button at one point faced a whopping 89 charges, including 10 counts of manslaughter. Those charges were ultimately dropped following a plea deal with police to the anger of families.
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