Driver Brett Andrew Button bailed after court appearance charged over deadliest bus crash in three decades
Brett Button began weeping as he was told he’d be released on bail as court hears police expect to bring 15 more charges over the Hunter Valley bus crash.
The bus driver alleged to have been responsible for Australia’s deadliest bus crash in three decades has been released on bail after appearing in court for the first time.
Brett Andrew Button is charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, drive manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death) following the horror crash in which 10 passengers died and 25 were injured, some critically.
Mr Button, 58, sat in the dock wearing glasses, a black jacket and black pants and in handcuffs. For the majority of the court mention he sat with his head down, occasionally looking up.
Two police officers stood next to him.
His wife, daughter, two sons and other family members were also in court and appeared tearful.
Referring to the provided fact sheet Magistrate Robyn Richardson said it appeared there was a “strong case” for bail.
“It is clear to this court that he suffers, along with his community,” Ms Richardson said as Mr Button visibly shook and began weeping
Magistrate Richardson also granted an interim suppression order preventing the publication of Mr Button’s address, which was unopposed by the prosecution.
The police prosecutor had “strongly opposed” bail, on the grounds there was a risk he would fail to appear and that he might interfere with the ongoing police investigation. The prosecutor said police expected as many as 15 further charges of causing grievous bodily harm could be added, given the passengers’ injuries.
“There are 10 witnesses who gave evidence in relation to the prolonged behaviour of Mr Button and dangerous driving,” she said.
“The passengers fastened their seatbelts as a result, the fact sheet states.”
The court heard Mr Button had no criminal history prior to the charges being laid, and had accrued seven separate driving infringements in almost 30 years behind the wheel.
had passed mandatory drug and alcohol tests after the crash but was reported to have been driving erratically just before the accident.
The court heard he told passengers to “fasten your seatbelt” moments before the crash, news.com.au reports.
Lawyer Chris O’Brien told the court Mr Button had led an “exemplary existence”, and was deeply connected to his local community. Mr Button was supported in court by his family.
Mr O’Brien also supplied the court with a copy of Mr Button’s medical records - including any current medications, stating that Mr Button had missed an appointment to attend court.
Magistrate 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.
“I do not find there the unacceptable risk that Mr Button could interfere with witnesses is so much so that I might refuse bail,” Ms Robinson said.
“In regards to failure to appear, I accept that it is a risk but I am satisfied presented conditions will turn unacceptable risk to acceptable risk.”
Magistrate Richardson 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.
Magistrate Richardson told the court Mr Button’s own mental health had also suffered as a result of the incident and subsequent charges, with the matter unlikely to go to trial until 2024.
Mr O’Brien told reporters after leaving the jam-packed courtroom: “Given all the circumstances, he (Mr Button) is holding up really well.”
Mr Button will appear before Newcastle Local Court on August 9 for a committal mention.
Passengers screamed at driver to slow down
The Australian understands passengers screamed at Mr Button to slow down during the ride away from the wedding venue.
Mr Button allegedly told passengers over the coach’s intercom “if you think that was fast … watch this” moments before he lost control of the bus at a roundabout, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.
The bus tipped to its left side entering a roundabout and fell on a guardrail, killing nine people on the scene and one later in hospital, Acting Assistant Commissioner David Waddell told reporters at Cessnock police station on Tuesday.
“[The driver] entered that roundabout driving in a manner that was inconsistent with the conditions,” he said. “Obviously, the speed was too quick for him to negotiate that roundabout.”
Twenty-five people were taken to hospital and fourteen have not yet been discharged.
“The injuries range from lacerations to breaks and fractures,” he said.
“There’s minor injuries to very serious injuries with two in ICU.”
He said the two intensive care patients were at John Hunter Hospital near Newcastle.
“In relation to the passengers we’ve got people in the range from 20s to 60s, males to females, local and interstate.
Survivors have told friends that the speed of the bus had prompted them to tell other passengers to get back into their seats as the bus approached the roundabout.
The 58-year-old will face court in Cessnock on Tuesday morning, with police suggesting more charges are possible over the nation’s worst road accident since 1994.
The passengers had all been celebrating the wedding of Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell at Wandin Estate in the Hunter Valley wine country.
About 11pm on Sunday, the bus collected 35 guests and began the drive to Singleton when the crash happened amid thick fog, 12km from the wedding venue. The bus crashed as it approached a roundabout at Greta, north of Newcastle, about 11.30pm.
In frantic scenes, first responders were forced to smash through the front windscreen of the overturned bus to help survivors escape, then used airbags to lift up the bus to free two people. It is unclear whether the two were dead or alive.
Several people remained trapped in the wreckage, with some suffering traumatic injuries including severed limbs.
Up to 30 ambulance crews raced to the scene, with the first arriving within seven minutes of the crash.
At one point in the early hours of Monday, five helicopters were dispatched to airlift victims to hospital, although it is believed not all were eventually required.
One helicopter flew patients to the Royal Prince Alfred in Sydney.
Twelve of the injured were transferred to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, with one in a critical condition. Five patients were taken to Maitland Hospital and another five to Calvary Mater Hospital Newcastle, all in a stable condition.
Mr Gaffney is a member of the Singleton Roosters Australian Football Club, and Ms Edsell a Singleton Roosterette. Several members of the club attended the wedding.
NSW Premier Chris Minns attended the crash scene on Monday morning, saying “whatever the final toll is in this terrible accident, it will be more than we can bear”.
“Everybody in the state has just been truly horrified by this morning’s events,” Mr Minns said. “We need to make sure also that all the resources are available to this community as they deal with the shock and trauma associated with the events of 11.30 last night.”
Mr Minns pledged support from the NSW government.
Anthony Albanese said the mental scars from the accident would not go away.
“They are there forever and we need to make sure that when the spotlight leaves, the care doesn’t, for people who have witnessed this and for people who have experienced this tragedy first-hand,” the Prime Minister said. “Australia wraps its arms around you.”
The bride and groom were originally from Warrandyte, in Melbourne’s outer-eastern suburbs, and 13 of the guests were players and partners from the Warrandyte Cricket Club, but it appears all survived. Other passengers were believed to be from Queensland.
The driver was uninjured but was taken to hospital under police guard for mandatory testing and assessment. He was later transferred to Cessnock police station where he was charged and refused bail. The 57-seat Volvo bus was operated by Linq Bus Lines and was equipped with seat belts, but it is unclear how many passengers were wearing them.
The accident is likely to raise questions about whether seat belts should be compulsory for some buses, with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb saying the Coroner would have to determine whether laws needed to be tightened. “Whether they were actually wearing seatbelts or not, or whether it was fitted with seatbelts, certainly all of that will come under scrutiny,” she said.
Asked if the driver had told passengers to wear seat belts, she responded: “The coroner will have to look at that, and ultimately the driver will have to think about that for the rest of his life.”
Sarat Babu Perala, who lives next door to Mr Button and his wife Robyn said his neighbour was “a nice bloke”. He said Mr Button previously worked as a salesman in a Mazda showroom in East Maitland before becoming a bus driver “three or four years ago”.
He had only recently started driving private coaches, and was previously driving school buses, Mr Perala said.
The grim recovery operation was still under way late on Monday as forensic officers worked to identify victims and secure what had by then been declared a crime scene. The bodies had remained in the wreckage for most of the day.
The coach was hauled back onto its wheels by specialist tow truck operators at 3pm, with at least one dead passenger believed to have been found beneath the wreckage.
Additional reporting:
Noah Yim, NCA/Newsiwre
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