"A kick in the teeth": Father of Hunter Valley crash victim shares his anger
The father of one of the victims of the deadly Hunter Valley bus crash has spoken out, following news that the driver struck a plea deal.
On Wednesday, Brett Andrew Button entered into a plea agreement, which saw 10 manslaughter charges be dropped against the man who was behind the wheel when the bus crashed.
He then pled guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving causing death, nine of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and 16 of furious driving causing bodily harm.
After news of the plea deal broke, the father of one of the victims shared how the downgrade in charges felt like "more than a kick in the teeth".
"It reopens wounds and triggers and it evokes, obviously, some anger, but I'm trying to be balanced and stick with the facts and hopefully we can achieve some positive outcomes," Adam Bray told A Current Affair.
Mr Bray's son, 29-year-old Zach was one of the 10 people who tragically died in the crash.
"Five weeks ago we were running 89 charges, including 10 charges of manslaughter."
"Thirty six hours before the court today, all the families were told, sold a bit of a story to be honest ... that's extremely disappointing and I'll continue to fight."
"It's totally wrong and does it need to take these 10 lives to fix bus and coach safety in Australia?"
Mr Bray's comments come as reports emerged that Mr Button had a drug dependency and had prescription painkillers in his system at the time of the crash.
"It's criminal to drive a vehicle, a heavy vehicle in Australia, particularly with 35 passengers on board, when you are medicated," Bray said.
"So to reduce to lesser charges, it's not balanced.
Bray's emotions ran high as he described his son as an "incredible man" who had overcome stage 3 bowel cancer before the fatal crash.
A Current Affair host Ally Langdon told the grieving father. "I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I'm so sorry the process played out as it has. It's not fair."
Following the emotional court proceedings, Mr Bray said he felt like his emotions over the tragedy were "pretty much back to square one".
"(I am) processing it. Yep, another massive challenge. 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."
"It's far from fair, let's try to rally around government, try to rally around the attorney general, get some public opinion, let's try to create some fairness, it's all we can do."
Image credits: A Current Affair / Getty Images