Brett Button, Hunter Valley bus crash driver to face new charges

Police expect to charge the man behind the wheel of a bus when it crashed killing 10 people in the Hunter Valley with up to 26 new offences.

Emergency services at the scene of the horror bus crash in the Hunter Valley which claimed 10 lives. Picture: David Swift

The bus driver who allegedly caused the deaths of 10 people in the catastrophic Hunter Valley bus crash last year is facing up to 26 new charges.

Brett Button, 59, who will face Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, is currently on bail for 63 charges after he allegedly lost control of a bus taking wedding guests from the Wandin Valley Estate to Singleton in the Hunter Valley about 11.30pm on June 11.

Brett Andrew Button pictured walking out of Cessnock police station after being granted bail. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Ten people were killed and 25 injured in what is now one of Australia’s worst road crashes.
But it is understood police now expect to charge Button with up to 26 new offences, including 10 counts of manslaughter and 16 counts of driving furiously occasioning actual bodily harm, when he faces court on Wednesday.
Button is currently on bail and lives with his family as part of his strict bail conditions.
If police prosecutors charge him with all 26 new offences, he will be facing a total of 89 charges.

No pleas have been entered to the 63 ongoing charges.

The people who tragically lost their lives in the crash. From top left (down) Bec Mullen, Andrew and Lynan Scott, Kane Symons, Kyah and Nadene McBride, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Zach Bray and Darcy Bulman.

It is the second time police have laid additional charges against Button, who initially faced 10 charges before police added a further 43 in a court mention in August.

Husband and wife Andrew and Lynan Scott, mother and daughter Nadene and Kyah McBride, Kyah’s boyfriend Kane Symons, Zach Bray, Angus Craig, Darcy Bulman, Tori Cowburn and Rebecca Mullen were killed in the tragedy on June 11.

Police prosecutor Courtney Broom “strongly opposed” Mr Button’s release on bail in June, telling the court of Mr Button’s prolonged allegedly dangerous behaviour prior to the devastating crash.

“There are 10 witnesses who gave evidence in relation to the prolonged behaviour of Mr Button and dangerous driving,” Ms Broom said.

Magistrate Robyn Richardson said the court acknowledged the suffering of all those who had lost loved ones in the tragic crash, as well as Mr Button and his own family.

“There is no doubt as Mr Button is sat here that it is clear this is a man who is suffering along with the rest of this community,” Ms Richardson said.

She granted Mr Button strict conditional bail that will prohibit him from entering the driver seat of a car, subject him to a curfew, and deny him contact with police witnesses.

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Originally published as Brett Button, Hunter Valley bus crash driver to face new charges