‘Look at me when I speak’: Survivors speak of horror bus crash

Many outlined the horror of waking from unconsciousness after the bus had toppled, and described lives that had since been stripped of joy and peace.

Brett Button Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Surviving victims of the Hunter Valley bus crash that killed 10 people have spoken for the first time about their immense trauma and survivor’s guilt, as one man asked bus driver Brett Button to ‘look at me when I speak’.

Many outlined the horror of waking from unconsciousness after the bus had toppled to see friends seemingly lying dead, and described lives that had since been stripped of joy and peace.

On June 11, 2023, Button drove 35 guests 15 minutes home to Singleton after they had celebrated the wedding of their friends at Wandin Valley Estate. Passengers told him to slow down and that they were afraid, before the bus rolled on a roundabout about 11.30pm near Greta. It was later revealed he was addicted to opioids at the time.

Mr Button, who will give evidence when court resumes on Wednesday, looked down at his hands as one after another, over two long days, families of the deceased and some of the 25 survivors shared the impact of the tragic events on their lives.

“Before we do start Judge, I would just like to say one thing and (to) the defence too, if you could ask for the defendant to actually look at me while I’m speaking,” one survivor said. “He has not looked at one person while they’ve been speaking.”

The man said he had a flashback last night, and Mr Button in the courtroom “reminded me of the night ... he had his hands in his pockets while I had no shirt. My shirt covering one of my best mate’s heads, as he was bleeding to death.”

Friends and family's of the victims arriving at day two of the sentencing of Brett Button. Picture: NewsWire/ Adam Yip

A lawyer for Mr Button said “I don’t think he intended disrespect” but that he would tell his client to do look at the man since he had asked directly.

The man, who had many friends on the bus, said he was now “a shell of a person”.

“I have ongoing nightmares of ... looking at the many lifeless faces at the back of the bus that your squashed and killed. I regularly get woken up from my sleep thinking I’m trapped in your bus of hell.”

In May, Button pleaded guilty to 10 charges of dangerous driving occasioning death, after prosecutors dropped 10 manslaughter charges against him. Button also pleaded guilty to nine counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and 16 counts of drive furiously in a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

Zachary Bray’s mother Jacqui Varasdi said she felt “let down” by the NSW DPP after it dropped the manslaughter charges against Mr Button and opted for a lesser plea “without adequate consultation”.

“This decision has been even harder to accept, as it was after the plea deal that we learnt the driver was impaired with high levels of opioids and painkillers in his system ... His actions were not just reckless, they were criminal and warranted a manslaughter conviction,” she said.

Friends and family's of the victims leaving the sentencing of Brett Button. Picture: NewsWire/ Adam Yip

Jenny Warren said she would suffer chronic pain and restricted mobility for the rest of her life as a result of her terrible injuries, and recalled Mr Button had “ignored the yelling and pleading of passengers asking him to slow down”.

“I never called what happened an accident because it wasn’t ... He could have prevented all this loss and pain if he had listened to the pleas of passengers asking him to slow down. But he chose not to. I am no longer the wife, mother or sister I once was, because Brett Button wanted to show off,” she said.

Brandon Stafford described a wonderful day celebrating his best mate’s wedding, followed by the “chaos and terror” of trying to pull people out of the bus. He did not yet know that his jaw had smashed through the back of his mouth.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I do not suffer from the pain and discomfort from this accident. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about what I saw inside the bus,” he said.

“I will never forget the people who died in the accident and I worry that I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life.”

Sharyn Junkeer, who was on the bus with her husband and survivor Jason, said she suffered a broken nose, severed tendons in her hand, shrapnel in her legs, a fractured pelvis and back, and de-gloving to upper leg and thigh.

“I have become increasingly angry at a system that has failed all of us, including Mr Button,” she said.

“There should have been systems in place to keep us in the community safe from a person such as him who was unable to admit or acknowledge his longstanding opioid use disorder to himself or others.”

Mr Junkeer recalled saying to his wife ‘Gee, feels like he’s coming in hot’ to his wife as he sped into the roundabout.

Earlier, Tori Cowburn’s mother Kay Welsh recalled the moment she found out her daughter had died in the crash.

“I still have such a vivid memory of the look on Garry’s face the moment he took that call. He didn’t have to say a word. I knew.

“At that moment I screamed out so loud. ‘No, no, this isn’t happening, and fell to my knees crippled with overwhelming emotion, crying uncontrollably. At that moment, my world stopped. My heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest, I couldn’t breathe, I was totally numb.”

‘A second chance’ then taken away: Parents of crash victims

Parents have spoken about the second chances their kids were given in life just to be killed by the “criminal actions” of one man, bus driver Brett Button.

Kane Symons’ father recalled his “rare second chance at life” following a severe brain injury at age 11, and Zachary Bray’s mother said her son had overcome stage three bowel cancer at the age of 25 which “he fought bravely with determination”.

“That experience profoundly shaped Kane’s … outlook on life. He lived with an acute awareness of how precious life is, embracing every moment with vigour and enthusiasm,” Kane’s dad Steve Symons said.

“To lose him now after being given that second chance, is a loss that is both cruel and unjust.”

Kane was the youngest of the victims on the bus, aged just 21 years-old.

Kane Symons.

“This was not an accident but a criminal act for which the perpetrator must be held fully accountable … His death has shattered our lives in a manner that words cannot fully capture.”

Zach’s mother Jacqui Varasdi said after he beat cancer, he became a voice of awareness and an ambassador for a disease often ignored by younger people.

“It’s heartbreaking to think he can no longer continue his life saving mission. Zach had so much more to give but this has been ripped away from him and those he could have helped in the future,” she said.

“Losing a child through no act of his own, no illness, no cancer, no risk taking behaviour, I’m struggling to come to terms with it.”

Zach Bray.

She said her son never took unnecessary risks or made reckless decisions.

On the night of June 11, 2023, Zach and his friends did what they believed was right, she said, they followed the rules, made arrangements for safe travel, Ms Varasdi said. They had a Plan B.

“(They) trusted that the bus driver would get them there safely … that was the plan but my son who did everything right still didn't make it home.”

The 10 who died were Nadene and her daughter Kyah McBride, Kane Symons, who was also Kyah’s partner, Andrew and his wife Lynan Scott, Zach Bray, Angus Craig, Tori Cowburn, Rebecca Mullen and Darcy Bulman. Most were in their 20s and early 30s. Twenty-five others were badly injured.