Hunter Valley bus driver learns his fate
The judge has handed down his sentence to Hunter Valley bus driver Brett Button, who was behind the wheel of one of Australia's deadliest crashes that killed 10 people and injured 25 others.
After a three-day hearing, Button, 59, was sentenced before Judge Roy Ellis at Newcastle District Court on Wednesday afternoon to 32 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 24 years beginning May 8th.
He will be eligible for release on parole on May 7th, 2048.
When the judge read his sentence, gasps were heard within the courtroom from survivors of the crash, while many victims' families broke down in tears.
In sentencing, Judge Ellis said Button was under the influence of the opioid-based painkiller tramadol and had “abandoned his responsibility” to his 35 passengers at the time of the crash.
“Words cannot adequately express the pain, anger, and sadness that permeated the first two days of these proceedings as victim impact statement after victim impact statement was read by and for absolutely distraught, depressed, and devastated family members of the deceased and survivors," Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said that in his 50 years in the justice system he had never “dealt with, seen, or even read about a case that involved anywhere near the same extent of extraordinary devastation”.
“Surviving passengers described the trauma of their injuries and scenes of the crash, with unwanted memory of the carnage still present and easily triggered,” Judge Ellis told the court.
Outside the courtroom after the sentence had been handed down, Leoni Bowey, who lost her sister Nadene McBride and niece Kyah McBride in the crash, said the family was surprised by the result but she didn’t “think there was ever an end to this”.
“I don’t think closure ever happens,” she said.
“Listening to the stories, I realised many of the victims that were on the bus that night are all living with trauma, depression, and anxiety - all things that will be with us for the rest of our lives."
“I was having an anxiety attack because it was taking so long to get the numbers, and I had no idea what it all meant... but I will say I didn’t think we would get that sentence. I am really surprised.”
Image credits: 7News