Bus driver Brett Button sentenced to 32 years in prison for Hunter Valley wedding crash that killed 10
Brett Button has been sentenced to 32 years in prison after 10 people died and 25 others were injured in a horror crash after a Hunter Valley wedding last year.
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Bus driver Brett Button has been sentenced to 32 years in prison for the “extreme devastation” he caused when he rolled a wedding bus in the Hunter Valley killing 10 people and injuring 25 others.
Button, 59, will be 82 years-old when he is eligible to be released for parole in May 2048.
Fifteen months after the devastating crash on June 11, 2023 - that saw a bus full of people topple at a roundabout near Greta - Button’s sentence was handed down to gasps and cries of shock from family and friends sitting in the back of the courtroom.
Over the two days prior, those loved ones had stared Button down as he sat in a glass box to the side of the courtroom and described the pain of burying their children. Survivors recounted seeing “the many lifeless faces at the back of the bus” in their nightmares, while grieving for children they would have had with loved ones who died in the crash.
Outside Newcastle Courthouse on Wednesday, Steve Symons, the father of the youngest victim Kane, said that while “nothing will bring them back ... ultimately it shows they mattered”.
Leoni Bowey, Nadene McBride’s sister, was “surprised” with the sentence while adding she had “no empathy for the offender”.
“I want at the forefront these 10 beautiful souls ... to be the ones whose names are more important than the offender,” she said.
“I had come in not believing very much in the justice system, but the result ... was tremendous for us. It will never bring back my beautiful sister Nadene,” she said, sobbing. “It will never bring back my sassy niece Kyah. Our lives have changed forever.”
Button, in an tear-filled address, told the court on Wednesday that he would never forgive himself.
On the night of the 11th, Button drove the 35 guests 15 minutes home to Singleton after they had celebrated the wedding of their friends Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell at Wandin Valley Estate.
Button told passengers, “if you like that corner, you’re going to like this one”, and at one stage, when someone said “this guy’s going a bit fast, he’s going crazy”, Button replied “oh my god, that’s nothing”.
When they got to the roundabout where the bus toppled about 11.30pm, Button said “this part is going to be fun” before passengers told him to “slow down” and that they were scared.
It was later revealed he was addicted to opioids at the time, and had taken more than the maximum dose recommended by doctors while operating a vehicle. He was also going too fast as he approached the roundabout, accelerating inside the turn.
All this, Judge Roy Ellis said, meant Button had “abandoned” his responsibility to ensure the safety of his passengers, and that his moral culpability “was very high”.
Judge Ellis said in his 50 years in the justice system, and 21 years as a District Court judge, he had never “dealt with, seen or even read anywhere near the extreme devastation to so many individuals and families as has become absolutely clear in relation to this offending.”
He pre-empted the sentence by saying it would “not bring back the deceased loved ones” nor heal the injuries of survivors.
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.
Button told the court on Wednesday morning he couldn’t look the victim’s parents, siblings and partners in the eyes because he was “ashamed” at causing the crash that killed ten people, and had committed the “ultimate sin”.
In a tense moment on Tuesday, an emotional survivor told Button to “look at me when I’m speaking”.
On Wednesday, Button said he did so because he was “ashamed”.
“(I’m) ashamed of everything I’ve caused,” he said, adding he was not attempting to show any disrespect.
His barrister, Paul Rosser KC, then asked him to tell those relatives at the back of the room what he thought about his actions.
“I’ve tried to figure out the words to say I’m sorry,” Button said between sobs.
“But how do you say you’re sorry for such a horrible, tragic event that has ruined the lives of hundreds of people.
“I can’t forgive myself. I cant believe I caused this. I never meant to cause it. And every single person that died and was injured and everyone involved in this. I truly wish it never happened and I could apologise where actually people believed me.
“I live with this every day and I hate myself. I never meant to hurt anyone in my entire life, and now I’ve committed the ultimate sin, completely, the opposite of everything we’re taught our entire lives. I’ve caused parents to have to bury their children, which has been my biggest nightmare all my life, and now I’ve done it to so many families,” he said.
“I hate myself and I want to disappear. I’m sorry to everyone involved including the police and everyone, my family. I’ve shamed everyone.”
The 10 people 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.
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