Two parents who lost loved ones in the Hunter Valley crash say they are devastated after learning manslaughter charges against the bus driver cannot be reinstated.
Matt Mullen and Adam Bray met with Attorney General Michael Daley on Monday to appeal the decision to drop serious charges against Brett Button as part of a plea deal.
Button pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving causing death in exchange for manslaughter charges being dropped.
The meeting with Mr Daley lasted an hour before both parents left disappointed with the outcome.
“There is no reinstatement or reinstatement of the manslaughter charges; it has already been through the court,” Mr Bray told the Daily Telegraph.
“This now goes to reform.”
Matt Mullen (pictured) and Adam Bray will meet with Attorney General Michael Daley on Monday to appeal the decision to drop manslaughter charges against the driver who killed their children.
Bray said the focus would be on ensuring Button was appropriately sentenced and improving the Public Prosecution Service’s communication processes.
“There is a huge improvement in communication with victims’ families and survivors,” he said.
“We have just received a commitment from the Attorney General that he will work with us and his team to ensure that the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s communication is improved.”
Button’s guilty plea could result in a 25 percent discount on the sentence on the most serious charges against him, for which the maximum sentence is ten years.
Now loved ones of those killed in the horrific bus crash near Greta, in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, on June 11, 2023, fear Button will spend only a few years in prison for killing 10 and injuring 25 other passengers.
Mullen, father of Rebecca Mullen, a junior doctor in Newcastle, said he and Bray, father of 29-year-old cancer survivor Zach Bray, have sought legal advice for the facts presented in the agreed statement of facts.
The document, signed by Button, indicated that the driver was under the influence of Tramadol, an opioid pain reliever, at the time of the accident.
It found that the amount of Tramadol in Button’s system, 400 mg, would have affected him “to the extent that there would have been some impairment in his ability to drive.”
Button had been taking the medication since 2016 and was previously removed from a bus company for his use of the medication.
The facts indicated that there was also no evidence that Button told Linq Buses, the company he was driving for the night of the accident, that he was using Tramadol despite mandatory self-reporting laws.
Button also agreed that the drug can cause respiratory depression, euphoria, drowsiness, mental confusion, instability, impairment of memory and visual functions, comprehension, attention, problem solving and decision making.
Mullen believes the facts show that Button had a long history of drug abuse and did not simply make a split-second decision while behind the wheel.
Bus driver Brett Button (pictured) pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving causing death in exchange for manslaughter charges being dropped.
Mullen described his meeting with the Attorney General as a “last ditch effort by a desperate father who loves his daughter” (pictured is Mullen’s daughter, young doctor Rebecca Mullen).
“I want to ask this question: What does society think the punishment should be for a man who has admitted to being addicted to opiates, who has been fired from his job and has not informed his new employee of his dependence, knowing that Was he affected? by drugs,’ he said.
‘Because it doesn’t matter what I think. My personal feelings are enough for my judgment to be affected because I am the parent of a person who was aboard that bus, so what he gets is obviously important to me.
“But I would ask what society thinks of a person with his history of drug use and acting the way he did that night, what society thinks is fair.”
Button will face Newcastle District Court on Thursday after being committed to sentence for the deaths of Bec Mullen, Zach Bray, Darcy Bulman, Andrew and Lynan Scott, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Nadene and Kyah McBride, and Kane Symons .
He will also face nine counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and 16 counts of causing grievous bodily harm by careless driving.
His appearance on Thursday is expected to be adjourned until his sentencing date.
Mullen described his meeting with the Attorney General as a “last ditch effort by a desperate father who loves his daughter.”
Loved ones of those killed in the bus crash are worried that Button will spend only a few years in jail for killing 10 and injuring 25 other passengers (pictured, makeshift memorial for victims after the crash).
Button will face Newcastle District Court on Thursday after being committed to sentence for the deaths of Bec Mullen, Zach Bray, Darcy Bulman, Andrew and Lynan Scott, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Nadene and Kyah McBride, and Kane Symons .
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions issued a statement last month following the withdrawal of the involuntary manslaughter charges.
“The Prosecutor’s Office deeply sympathizes with the families of those who lost their lives in this tragic event and with the victims who were injured,” he stated.
‘The decision to accept a guilty plea involves complex questions of fact and law. These decisions are always made after thorough and careful consideration of the evidence and in accordance with the Prosecutor’s Guidelines.’
