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SYDNEY — The driver responsible for one of Australia’s deadliest road incidents – a wedding bus crash which killed 10 people – has been jailed for 32 years.
Twenty-five people were also injured when the coach overturned on 11 June 2023, while coming back from the celebration in the Hunter Valley wine region in New South Wales.
Brett Button, 59, was in the grips of a prescription opioid dependency and driving too fast at the time of the crash.
Initially charged with manslaughter, he instead pleaded guilty to a string of dangerous driving offenses after taking a prosecution deal.
Surviving passengers and loved ones of those who died traveled from around the country to see Button sentenced, sobbing and hugging each other as the judge ruled he could not be released on parole until May of 2048.
Button had taken a large amount of Tramadol – a powerful drug that can cause drowsiness, brain fog and poor vision – to manage his chronic pain on the day of the crash but said that he did not realize he was impaired.
However passengers told the court they were terrified by his erratic driving, and some had urged him to slow down.
Shortly after, he lost control of the bus on a roundabout, causing it to tip on its side and slide along a guard rail.
It was carrying 35 passengers and everyone on board, except Button, was injured or killed.
Two whole days were devoted to listening to statements from more than 30 of those impacted in a hearing the judge called unprecedented in scale.
Several people spoke of their enduring grief and daily physical agony.
Graeme McBride suffered serious injuries in the crash, which also killed his wife Nadene, his only child Kyah, 22, and her partner Kane Symons, 21.
Crying, Mr McBride told the court “my family tree has been cut down”.
“I just want my old life back.
“I want to be able to sleep on a dry pillow… I just want to lay in a comfortable position without a broken neck and heart.”
Nick Dinakis, who lost his girlfriend Darcy Bulman that night, was also left on the brink of death – with a broken neck, debris throughout his face “like shrapnel”, and a brain injury he is unlikely to recover from.
“You’ve broken me physically, you’ve scarred my body, and worst of all you’ve broken my heart and mind,” the 30-year-old said.
Button sat silently as victims told him how he had orphaned kids, turned partners into widows, and forced parents to bury their adult children.
“Touching (your daughter’s) cold arm in a morgue is something a father can’t explain,” Matthew Mullen, father of 26-year-old Rebecca Mullen, said.
The court also heard some of those affected were now too scared to drive and too physically and mentally destroyed to ever work again.
Speaking for the first time, Button apologized and said he’d struggled to express his regret and grief.
“I’ve tried to figure out the words to say I’m sorry, but how do you say you’re sorry for such a horrible tragic event that has ruined the lives of hundreds of people,” he told the court.
“I live with this every day and I hate myself.”
Judge Roy Ellis told the court he had never seen a case that had caused such “extraordinary devastation to so many individuals and families” in his 50-year career.
“The court hopes that there will be some closure for at least some of you,” he said, while handing down his sentence.
Button was convicted of 10 charges of dangerous driving causing death, nine counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, and 16 counts of causing bodily harm by furious driving.
The Hunter Valley in New South Wales is known for its vineyards and native bushland and has a reputation as a wedding hub.
The tragedy shocked the nation and shattered the small regional town of Singleton.
Six of those killed – Nadene and Kyah McBride; Andrew, 35, and Lynan Scott, 33; Tori Cowburn, 29; and Rebecca Mullen – were locals.
Also killed were Kane Symons, from Tasmania, Zach Bray, 29 from Byron Bay, Angus Craig, 28, from Queensland, and Bulman from Melbourne. — BBC
