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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Sam Rigney

63 counts: prosecutors lay dozens more charges against Greta bus driver

Bus driver Brett Button leaving Cessnock police station after he was granted bail on June 13. Picture by Jonathan Carroll

PROSECUTORS have laid 43 additional charges against the bus driver accused of causing the death of 10 passengers and injuring dozens more in a crash at Greta in June.

Brett Andrew Button, 58, is next listed to appear in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday when prosecutors will reveal he now faces 63 charges relating to the devastating bus crash.

Already charged with 10 counts of both dangerous driving occasioning death and a back-up charge of negligent driving occasioning death, Mr Button has now been charged with an additional nine counts of both dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

As well as those charges, police and prosecutors have charged Mr Button with 25 counts of cause bodily harm by misconduct in charge of a motor vehicle for each of the 25 surviving but seriously injured passengers.

Mr Button was granted conditional bail in Cessnock Local Court in June, two days after he lost control of a bus full of wedding guests on a roundabout on Wine Country Drive at Greta.

The bus rolled and the impact caused the death of 10 passengers and seriously injured 25 others.

The 58-year-old had been taking dozens of wedding guests from a lush Hunter Valley estate to the groom and bride's hometown of Singleton.

Mr Button was later charged with ten counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and refused bail by police.

He was granted bail on June 13, despite prosecutors arguing Mr Button had taken the roundabout far too quickly and some passengers had told police Mr Button said "fasten your seatbelts" before the crash.

Some of the survivors had provided statements about Mr Button's "prolonged" behaviour before the bus tipped and slammed into a guard rail about 11.30pm on June 11, the court was told.

Button has not entered pleas and the mention in Newcastle Local Court next week will likely be to determine whether the brief of evidence has been completed and filed.

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