‘I care not for the keys to be lost’: Grieving father and husband confronts Hunter Valley bus driver
By Perry Duffin
Graham McBride used to have an endless list of what he wanted, but now it’s just one thing. He wants his wife and daughter, who died in the Hunter Valley bus crash, to walk through his door, to cook them dinner, to hear their voices, to share a wine as the sun goes down with the woman who was his soul mate.
Known in Singleton’s tight-knit AFL community as Banger, McBride survived the horrific tragedy but lost his wife Nadene and daughter Kyah.
Brett Button was the driver of the bus which crashed and caused the deaths of 10 passengers.Credit: Nick Moir
His neck and arm was broken, and he was unconscious. Kyah’s partner, Kane Symons, also died.
“I failed to protect my family, I failed my wedding vow. A father should never have to attend a funeral for his whole family,” McBride said in a long and powerful victim’s impact statement.
He was one of dozens of survivors, friends and family of the 10 wedding guests killed in the crash, who walked arm-in-arm into Newcastle courthouse on Monday for the sentencing of the driver Brett Button.
The marathon sentencing process is expected to take three days as injured victims, and the families of the dead, read statements detailing the impact the tragedy took on their lives.
Button’s defence team arrive at Newcastle District Court on Monday.Credit: Dean Sewell
“I will never forgive you for what you have stolen from me, and the other families sitting before you,” McBride told Button.
“I care not for the keys to be lost.”
Button was charged with the deaths of 10 guests and the serious injuries caused to more than a dozen more passengers after his charter coach rolled over at a roundabout outside the tiny town of Greta in June 2023.
The 59-year-old has awaited sentence in prison since May, when he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning the deaths of Nadene and Kyah McBride, Kane Symons, Andrew Scott and his wife, Lynan, Zach Bray, Angus Craig, Darcy Bulman, Tori Cowburn and Rebecca Mullen.
‘A father should never have to attend a funeral for his whole family.’
Graham McBride, who lost his wife Nadene and daughter Kyah in the crash
The guilty plea came in exchange for prosecutors dropping 10 counts of manslaughter.
McBride said he always wondered how Kyah’s children – his grandchildren – would have been. He had plans in his head for wooden toys, plans to teach them to drive.
But, he said, all his “lifelines” had been severed.
“My family tree has been cut down,” McBride said.
Through tears, the mining heavy machinist said he was once asked “What do you want in life?”
The bus was travelling on Wine Country Drive at Greta when it overturned.Credit: Nine News
Before the crash, McBride told the court, the list was endless.
“But not any more,” he said.
“I want to be able to sleep on a dry pillow, I just want to wait down in a comfortable position without a broken neck or heart. I want to cuddle up to the woman I laid next to for 30 years.
“I want my girls to enjoy my home cooked meals around a family table, I want to hear about their day.”
“I’m not asking for much, I just want my old life back.”
Nick Dinakis told the court he was a “broken man” since the crash he survived but his partner, Darcy Bulman, did not.
“My relationship with Darcy at times saved my life,” Dinakis said.
‘She was my safety blanket, but also my oars when all other engines weren’t working. She kept me moving forward.’
Nick Dinakis, partner of victim Darcy Bulman
“She was my safety blanket, but also my oars when all other engines weren’t working. She kept me moving forward.”
Dinakis said bones heal and scars fade, but his loss would not.
“You killed 10 highly skilled and respected people, made children orphans and partners into widows,” he said.
“I hope the image of Darcy Kate Bullman, and the nine other beautiful humans you killed, are tattooed in your brain.
Police inspect the bus at the crash scene.Credit: Nick Moir
“I hope any time you read their names it reminds you of what you’ve done, and I hope they keep you up at night and haunt you for your remaining years.”
Darcy’s father Warren Bulman choked back tears as he read his statement.
“Darcy’s completely avoidable death shattered me to the core and there was nothing I could do to protect my girl – the role of a father,” he said.
He said he hated Button who had “ruined my family’s lives” with an act of “reckless stupidity”.
Judge Roy Ellis, convening the hearing, said Button was facing a “lengthy sentence”.
‘Darcy’s completely avoidable death shattered me to the core.’
Warren Bulman, father of Darcy Bulman
“These proceedings are fairly well unprecedented,” Ellis said.
“Never before have so many people been injured or killed in a single motor vehicle incident.
“No sentence will bring back any loved ones, no sentence will cure any mental or physical injuries.”
The Herald earlier this year revealed Button was addicted to opioid painkillers at a level that alarmed his doctors and bosses.
He was taking 40 Tramadol a week and 10 Panadeine Forte each day, according to a WorkCover claim lodged one year before the fatal crash.
The police fact sheet, also revealed by this masthead, alleged multiple passengers on Button’s bus feared the speed was “unwarranted” as they drove from the wedding venue along the winding country road that links the Hunter region’s wineries to freeways.
Four allegedly fastened their seatbelts because of Button’s driving as he approached the roundabout at the end of Wine Country Drive.
One woman “felt scared and put her head in her partner’s lap … who held her as a result”, the fact sheet claims.
“We are going too fast,” the man told his fearful partner.
“He’s coming in hot,” another passenger told his wife as Button approached the roundabout.
“If you liked that corner, you’re going to like this one,” Button allegedly told his passengers.
But as Button attempted to traverse the roundabout his bus rolled onto the side, impacting “heavily” with the road, slid up the concrete surface, and hit a long steel guard rail.
The 35 passengers were thrown to the left of the bus. Nine of the passengers were critically injured and died at the scene, while a 10th died of his injuries in John Hunter Hospital.
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