Hunter Valley bus driver admits opioid dependency in deadly crash that killed 10, Newcastle Court hears

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The bus driver responsible for a deadly crash in the NSW Hunter Valley last year, which killed 10 people, has admitted to being dependent on an opioid painkiller. Giselle Wakatama reports from Newcastle Court.

Transcript

00:00Brett Andrew Button gave evidence this morning as part of his sentencing submission for his

00:07defence team.

00:09He was fighting back tears and sobbing as he gave evidence.

00:12He said, I can't forgive myself knowing that parents had had to bury their children.

00:18He said, I've committed the ultimate sin.

00:20I wish I'd disappear.

00:22He said, how can you say sorry for something so horrible that he had caused?

00:28He was asked about his driving and he accepted that yes, he'd compared his driving on that

00:34night before the crash, that this will be like a rollercoaster, as well as saying, picking

00:39up again after this next bit is going to be fun.

00:42Now, as well, he was asked about his use of the opioid Tramadol.

00:48We were told that in his system, he'd taken more than the recommended dose.

00:53And indeed, he accepted today while giving evidence that he was impaired by that drug.

00:59But he said he'd been using this drug since 1994 and really didn't think about it in terms

01:04of it putting people at risk.

01:07He said, you know, if he'd known he had taken that medication and it would put people at

01:11risk that he wouldn't have.

01:13Again, he just sobbed while referring to, you know, the people whose lives had been

01:19shattered.

01:20He said that he expected that to be in the thousands.

01:23He said it's something that he just can never stop thinking about and said he was deeply

01:28sorry.

01:29Now, the Crown Prosecutor, Catherine Jeffries, said that, yes, there was remorse, but really

01:35that the judge, Roy Ellis, needed to take some caution in terms of him saying sorry

01:42and his level of remorse.

01:44And essentially, she called for a sentence reflecting the gravity of this, of a night

01:49that, you know, survivors and victims' families say is a night that will never end.

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