Family of two of the 10 people killed in one of Australia’s deadliest road crashes have welcomed wedding bus driver Brett Button’s 32-year jail sentence.
Newcastle District Court Judge Roy Ellis on Wednesday said Button, 59, had been clearly impaired by the opioid Tramadol when driving too fast and engaging in risk-taking behaviour before the horrific Hunter Valley crash in June, 2023 when 25 people were also injured.
Jailing Button for 32 years with a non-parole period of 24 years, Judge Ellis said in his more than 50 years of being involved in the judicial system, he was unaware of any other case with such a devastating impact on so many people.
He said Button had significantly breached the duty of care he owed his 35 passengers and abandoned his responsibilities.
Outside court, Ameliah Bowey, niece of victim Nadene McBride, said she was happy with the sentence.
“We all went into that courtroom knowing that nothing that judge did would bring our loved ones back,” she said.
“Addiction is a disease, I’ll admit that, but no matter what he was still responsible for all those lives, for being the one to bring all those people home and he had to take accountability for that.”
Nadene McBride’s sister Leoni Bowey said she was surprised by the sentence, coming to court not really believing very much in the justice system.
She described the result as being “tremendous” but it would never bring back her beautiful sister or her sassy niece Kyah, 22, who also died in the crash.
“Our lives have changed forever,” Ms Bowey said.
Button, who had been told in 2022 by a pain specialist he was dependent on the opioid and vulnerable to becoming addicted, earlier gave evidence admitting taking more than the prescribed amount of Tramadol before the crash.
“I’m ashamed,” Button told the court.
“I can’t forgive myself. I can’t believe I caused this. I never meant to cause this. I truly wish it never happened.”
Button said he had committed the “ultimate sin” and caused parents to have to bury their children.
“I live with this every day and I hate myself. I never wanted to hurt anyone in my life. I want to disappear,” Button said.
It was estimated Button had entered the roundabout on Wine Country Drive just before 11.30pm on the way to Singleton from the Wandin Valley Estate driving at 52km/h and accelerated to 56.48km/h when on the roundabout.
The speed required to tip the bus over was only 31km/h.
The judge told how Button said “this part’s going to be fun” as he accelerated on the roundabout while passengers called out he was crazy and going too fast.
Button claimed he had been using Tramadol since 1994 and had developed a tolerance to the opioid he used to relieve pain.
He had taken a total of 350mg of Tramadol on the day when doctors told him the maximum daily dose was 200mg.
Questioned by prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys, Button agreed he had been joking about going on a rollercoaster before the crash and knew he was a danger on the roads if he had taken more than the prescribed amount of Tramadol.
Button pleaded guilty to 10 charges of dangerous driving causing death, nine counts of driving causing grievous bodily harm and 16 counts of causing bodily harm by wanton driving.
During the three-day sentence hearing, Jacqui Varasdi, mother of one of the 10 fatalities, Zachary Bray, 29, joined other victims’ families in questioning why prosecutors dropped manslaughter charges against Button in a plea deal.
“This decision has been even harder to accept as it was after the plea deal that we learned the driver was impaired with high levels of opioids and pain killers in his system,” she said.
“He knowingly over-medicated and chose to drive under those conditions putting countless lives at risk and destroying so many.”
The 10 people who died in the crash were: Darcy Bulman, Nadene McBride and her daughter, Kyah, Kane Symons, Andrew Scott and his wife Lynan, Zach Bray, Angus Craig, Tori Cowburn and Rebecca Mullen.
Many on board were members of the Singleton Roosters Australian Rules Football club and had earlier attended the wedding of Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell.
