Brett Button to be sentenced for fatal Hunter Valley bus crash
A grievously injured survivor of the horrific fatal Hunter Valley bus crash who lost his wife, his daughter, and her partner in the tragedy has choked back tears as he laid bare his relentless grief.
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A grievously injured survivor of the horrific Hunter Valley bus crash who lost his wife, his daughter, and her partner in the tragedy has choked back tears as he laid bare his relentless grief.
Brett Andrew Button, 59, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death following the horror crash at Greta last year which claimed 10 lives and injured a further 25 passengers.
The 35 on board – many members of the tight-knit Singleton community in the Hunter – were all returning home from their friends’ wedding.
Darcy Bulman, Rebecca Mullen, Zachary Bray, Andrew Scott and his wife Lynan Scott, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Nadene McBride, her daughter Kyah McBride and Kyah’s partner Kane Symons were all killed in the tragedy.
Family members of Darcy Bulman, Bec Mullen, the Scotts, and Angus Craig have given statements detailing their grief and loss in the crash’s wake.
Graham McBride’s neck was broken and he suffered multiple other serious injuries in the crash that claimed the lives of his wife Nadene, his only daughter Kyah, and her partner Kane Symons.
“I would describe my marriage as being pretty bloody awesome – she was my soulmate, my lover, my drinking buddy,” Mr McBride said.
“It felt beautiful just being in her presence – we had a strong, loving relationship, and the daily struggle does not get an easier without her in it.”
Mr McBride lamented that his wife never got to dance in the kitchen they were renovating at their family home.
“I miss sitting on the hill having a rose with you, watching the sun go down,” Mr McBride said through tears.
“Now I sit there alone, watching the sunset, hoping you’ll come back with the sunrise in the morning.”
Of his only daughter, Mr McBride said she was a talented tradeswoman, a tough and respected football player, and a courageous, loving woman who never gave up.
“She was my pride and joy, she taught me a lot of lessons in life,” Mr McBride reflected.
“Kyah had a smile just like her mother that could light up a room and set it on fire just as quick.
“I always told Nadine I wanted seven boys – I got more than that in one Kyah, she was a wonderful daughter and a joy to be around.”
Mr McBride said he was the “proudest dad on earth watching his girl turn into a lady”.
“I wonder how amazing my grandkids would have been – not only have I been robbed of my grandparent experience, all lifelines have been stopped, my family tree has been cut down,” he said.
“My girls were my life. I don’t have a life anymore … I sit at the empty table, with three empty seats, no-one to share my woes with.”
The victim impact statements will continue over the coming two days, with the Crown and defence to argue their cases before the sentence is expected to be handed down on Wednesday.
The sentence proceedings continue on Tuesday.
EARLIER
The bus driver involved in the horrific Hunter Valley bus crash which claimed the lives of 10 wedding guests in 2023 has faced their loved ones in court as his sentencing begins.
Brett Andrew Button, 59, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death following the horror crash at Greta last year which claimed 10 lives and injured a further 25 passengers.
Darcy Bulman, Rebecca Mullen, Zachary Bray, Andrew Scott and his wife Lynan Scott, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Nadene McBride, her daughter Kyah McBride and Kyah’s partner Kane Symons were all killed in the tragedy.
Button, who has admitted being affected by an opiate painkiller and boasting to passengers moments before the Linq Buslines coach entered a roundabout on June 11, has been in custody since he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Button has also pleaded guilty to nine counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and has admitted to 16 counts of drive furiously in a motor vehicle to cause bodily harm, which he will ask the judge to take into account during sentencing.
Over the next three days, the victims' loved ones will give statements detailing the impact the extraordinary tragedy has had 15 months on.
The victims’ families were photographed walking into court ahead of the proceedings on Monday, many of them embracing each other.
The proceedings will take place before Judge Roy Ellis at Newcastle District Court.
Families reveal crash’s tragic consequences
Through tears, the close relatives of the 10 Hunter Valley bus crash victims have begun to share their statements about the tragedy’s devastating impact.
The parents of Darcy Bulman, Diana and Warren, gave heartwrenching statements unveiling their acute grief at their daughter’s death.
“There was nothing I could do to protect my girl, the role of a father,” Mr Bulman said.
“I spent 13 days in Newcastle trying to get confirmation of the whereabouts of my daughter – she had, in fact, died on the night of the crash.
“When she was confirmed as one of the 10 lives lost, it was the hardest time of my life.”
The court heard Mr Bulman’s mother’s funeral was delayed for weeks as they grappled with Darcy’s tragic death.
“I should never have had to bury my daughter – she was supposed to be there when I died,” Mr Bulman said.
“I burst into tears at the thought I won’t walk her down the aisle to Nick, to not see her become the most wonderful mother that I know she would have been.”
Darcy’s mother Diana said she still wears the watch her daughter was wearing the night of the crash – a gift from her partner Nick – to remember life keeps ticking on.
“I try to glean whatever joy and happiness I can find in each day, despite the gaping Darcy-shaped hole in my life,” a victim’s advocate read from her statement.
“I can only preserve my memory of who Darcy was in life, by completely separating the circumstances of her death from her life – the burden of her death is actually not my cross to bear, it’s Brett Button’s.”
The up-and-coming ASIC investigator’s partner Nick was also grievously injured in the crash, suffering a broken neck and left to battle with a lifelong brain injury.
“I stand here today a broken man, you have broken me physically, you have scarred my body and most of all you have broken my heart and mind,” Mr Dinakis said.
He spoke of how his career had been ruined, that he was now unable to work at the “top of my game” and suffered from crippling anxiety which stopped him being in public or social settings.
“My life is no longer for living but more about survival,” Mr Dinakis said.
In speaking about the impact of Button’s actions, he later added: “Your selfish and dangerous actions that night have been enormous.
“On June 11, you killed my love and best friend, Darcy Kate Bulman.
“ … she was my forever person … you killed my family, the future mother of my children, my future wife, my best friend.”
Lindy Muldoon said a scholarship had been established to support women in engineering in honour of her daughter, Lynan Scott, who died alongside her husband Andrew in the crash.
The Scotts’ families farewelled them in a barn built initially for their wedding, where they had danced to the song “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur.
“It doesn’t allow me ever again the pleasure of hearing our dogs bark, seeing the lights of their car when they came down the drive,” Ms Muldoon said.
“I’d give anything to see her beaming smile again.”
Mr Scott’s father Brett said the impact on their entire family was “impossible to put into words”.
“The sense of loss can break a man or woman,” Mr Scott said.
“He had so much success … that was taken away from him.”
Aspiring general practitioner Bec Mullen’s father Matt said he was utterly lost without his daughter.
“Bec was picking flowers to dry to scatter at her wedding, the date was set,” Mr Mullen said.
“Instead, they were spread at the crash memorial site.”
Mr Mullen said a detective had to explain what “unaccounted for” meant – that his beloved daughter was dead.
“Touching her cold arm in a morgue was something a father can’t explain, what we lost is impossible to narrate,” Mr Mullen said.
“She lost a chance at life she deserved – her wedding, her life as a GP.”
The sister of Angus Craig, Georgia Craig, said she grieved the empty space left behind by his loss.
“The empty space felt in my nightly message of love to my baby, which ends with ‘Uncle Angie would have loved you the most',” she said.
“Grief is like carrying around a pocket full of rocks – this heavy weight that will always be with us.”
‘Justice is not about revenge’: judge
The judge who will sentence the Hunter Valley bus driver has acknowledged no jail sentence can bring back the victims, ahead of a court proceeding he said would parallel few others in Australian history.
At Newcastle District Court, Judge Roy Ellis addressed those gathered to witness the sentence proceedings of Brett Button, who was behind the wheel when a bus crashed at Greta in June 2023, leaving 10 dead and dozens more injured.
“No sentence that this court imposes will bring back deceased loved ones, or cure any mental or physical injuries as a consequence of this incident,” Judge Ellis said.
“Justice is not about revenge – it is about accountability, deterrence, and punishment.”
Judge Ellis also acknowledged the coming three days would be unlike almost anything ever seen in an Australian court.
“These proceedings are fairly well unprecedented, as (almost) never before have so many people been killed or injured in a single motor vehicle incident,” Judge Ellis said.
“We are all sensitive to the real loss and trauma this offence has produced.”
The judge urged those gathered not to take their anguish, anger or frustration out on court staff or others present in the court precinct who were not responsible for the deaths or injuries.
“What is to occur is more than a sentence proceeding in terms of how long he will spend in custody,” Judge Ellis said.
“It’s an opportunity for victims and their families to speak about the physical and mental consequences.”
More to come.
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Originally published as Brett Button to be sentenced for fatal Hunter Valley bus crash
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