Dad's anger as Hunter Valley bus crash driver strikes plea deal | A Current Affair

they don't want revenge they just want what's right families of those killed in the hunter Valley bus crash still grappling with grief now struggling to comprehend this the driver's manslaughter charges dropped Brett button striking a plea deal as we learn he had prescription drugs in his system Adam Bray whose son Zach died in the crash joins me from Jakarta Adam I know it's been a really rough day how are you feeling about what's happened all Ellie we yeah it's been a um exhaustive Journey it will continue this Fiasco is obviously a a setback reopens wounds and um uh and triggers and uh yeah um evokes obviously um some anger um but trying to be balanced then stick with the facts and uh and hopefully we can achieve some positive outcomes I imagine though that that's pretty tough today because you lost your son Zach and he was one of 10 beautiful people who were killed that day and now almost a year on to learn all of the manslaughter charges against Brett button have been dropped I don't think any of us saw that coming you know the 10 families have um been in communication with the dppp which is which we thought was all great and wonderful U that were updated privately and personally um not that we have a voice but at least our our our views are heard and five weeks ago we were running 89 charges including being 10 charges of manslaughter um 36 hours before the court today um all the families were told um sold a bit of a story to be honest um You probably won't get me with a p Al but uh yeah that's um that's extremely disappointing and um we uh you know I'll continue to fight so how important were those manslaughter charges to you they're extremely important not from a Revenge perspective at all okay but uh the contributing facts i' like to thank the new South r police for their in-depth investigation they provided the DPP with very clear evidence on many fronts of the criminality and the criminality is manslaughter so to reduce to lesser charges um it's not balanced it's uh if you take 10 lights from performing criminal acts it's criminal to drive a vehicle a heavy vehicle in Australia particularly with 35 passengers on board um when you're medicated that's exactly it right this as we learned that the bus driver was addicted to opioids he had prescription drugs in his system at the time Adam I mean here he is speeding driving dangerously on prescription drugs you've got 10 people dead if you don't get manslaughter for that what does it take you know somebody who's performing a criminal act and driving a bus with 35 passengers who are being responsible to get home from a wedding because they've been drinking or partying or whatever that's it that that's just the the anger that that got y yeah too much too much I I I get it Adam because I mean Zach and everyone on that bus they did the right thing they had their plan B they were meant to get home safely hey look zachi loves having fun Ally as everybody you at the age of 29 does he's a responsible pilot he's a mining engineer his whole life this whole world is about safety you can't walk on a mining site without being tested for drugs and alcohol because there's heavy machinery there's lives involved yet here we have lyns Coach Lines bus owners uh not having no testing protocols have nothing at all this is a driver who has form this is a driver who was moved on voluntarily for privacy Reasons from his former employer for driving a bus and laughing with school kids sliding around bus seats alley and falling on the floor he walks down the road protected by privacy Provisions gets a job with links they don't do any due diligence boom they put a killer behind the wheel of a coach they kill 10 people that is manslaughter and instead what do you get you get a plea deal where he pleads guilty to 10 charges of dangerous driving occasioning death and for you and the other families it's just it's just another kick in the teeth right you know that equates to from a sentencing perspective uh manslaughter is minimum 25 right because he's pleaded guilty this Criminal will be out in 7.5 years time might go to some Regional town and I start driving a coach or a bus yeah this is wrong this not anger it's not Revenge it's Justice you know we got to go up not down with judges it's just totally your son's life and those of everyone on that bus they deserve more than this do the math on it Ali do the math they deserve a whole lot more what what does it send to victim's families what does it send to the general public what does it send to irresponsible Rogue bus drivers it's okay guys get your opium based medication don't tell your boss have a sloppy operation operator you work for like Link's Coach lines and jump behind the wheel of the bus year heart let's go explain to me then the emotions of the last year and and how important Justice is and what you've got today um I want to PA to he but uh this is yeah obviously there some anger there's some emotions which I'll try to let pass through me but this is more than a kick in the kick in the tea yeah um it's uh it's totally wrong and does it need to take these 10 lives to fix bus and Coast Safety in Australia firstly yeah does it need to be the example does it need to take these 10 lives that you know and all the suffering of the families and everyone Associated and 25 survivers does this need to take these 10 lives to change the justice system why why why is it on us because far too often Adam this is what we we see with the justice system that once we get to the court your suffering it's it's not about that anymore we hear it's all about the perpetrator and we heard in court today how he suffers depression and and has anxiety I mean tell me how your depression has been over the past 12 months since you lost your son well my my emotions towards individual are zero okay uh I've learned to process that the point is this he shouldn't be driving he shouldn't be given there's not it's not about remorse but you're going to sit there and say I'm sorry I did this there is no you know that's totally relevant this is a criminal act yeah times 10 so yeah emotionally for us uh pretty much back to almost back to square one um processing it yep another massive Challenge and um yeah we we'll do our best to get through it but also try to get law reform so that 10 beautiful people did not die in vain y it can't be for nothing can it cannot be yeah look I know how you and many families are feeling about this today but then you on the other hand you have you have Darcy bullman's boyfriend he's actually pleased with the results as he says it allows him to try and move forward with his life we have to respect his feelings today too I guess don't we oh for sure and and part of the S pitch from the DPP with the back flip on the charges removing manslaughter was that this will probably good and we can help heal and we can all get on with it that's totally irrelevant uh you know it's this about Justice yeah let's put healing away let's put the driver's conditions to the side he knows what he's done it's very poor character to try to get people to defend you when you know what you've done yeah you stood by the side of the road you did not assist in any of the emergency safety efforts you sat there medicated climbed out of the front window of this coach where my son and others were mutilated and stood there so what compassion should I have what compassion should we have for this individual I don't know how you find any when you put it like that Adam yeah very very difficult uh there not hatred I said it's not Revenge but there's zero I have zero emotion towards Del yeah I can't allow myself I can't allow myself to hurt myself damage my soul any further uh with uh putting any emotion any thought all into this individual because Zach your son I mean he was just 29 he'd not long survive cancer This was meant to be his time Adam and in a way you you've got to go on and live it for him exactly and that's what he's time to shine he's not here Ali his advocacy for bow cancer awareness as a survivor of you know stage three bow cancer incredible man yeah as are you Adam PK yeah I'm so I'm so sorry that you're going through this I'm so sorry that the process played out as it has it's not fair well unfortunately we anticipated it it's far from Fair um let's try to rally around government try to rally around attorney generals get some public opinion let's try to create some fairness so we can do Al Adam I know what the public opinion is it's on your side thanks for talking to us today look after thanks for your time your garden take care yeah okay yeah they returning from a day of life love happiness a wedding and for to all end as it did I mean what those families are going through right now when you you hold on to hope that you'll at least get Justice see change only to learn that your voice doesn't count and I'm not sure it means much but we all hear you and we'll continue to push for law reform

Channel: A Current Affair

Views: 7,075

Keywords: a current affair, a current affair reporter, a current affair australia, channel 9 news, 9 news australia, australia news, world news, australian news, channel 9, bus crash, hunter bus crash, hunter valley bus crash

Id: mXiSj6Hiypc

Length: 10min 32sec (632 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024