IT was the worst road disaster in Australia in decades, an immeasurable tragedy that could have been so easily avoided.
And now the criminal proceedings against the bus driver responsible are destined to be unlike almost any other in NSW history.
In the shadow of the anniversary of the Greta bus crash, 59-year-old Brett Button will return to Newcastle District Court on Thursday to hear what date his sentence proceedings are expected to start.
But a combination of prescription painkillers, bravado, speed and stupidity turned the roundabout on Wine Country Drive into a "war zone" when the 57-seater coach Button was driving tipped over, killing 10 wedding guests and injuring 25 other passengers, including nine seriously.
Darcy Bulman, Rebecca Mullen, Zachary Bray, Tori Cowburn, Angus Craig, Kane Symons, mother and daughter Nadene and Kyah McBride, and husband and wife Andrew and Lynan Scott, all lost their lives.
The bus crash outside Greta is a unique case not just due to the level of tragedy, but because so rarely in massive road disasters does the driver responsible survive to face charges.
And so when the time does come for Button's sentence hearing he can expect to spend hours, perhaps even a full day, listening to victim impact statements from dozens of family members and survivors who were seriously injured.
All close family members of those who died and any other injured victims will get a chance to speak and outline the impact the crash has had on them.
The sentence proceedings are expected to take days, not hours, as is the usual practice in the NSW District Court, and that will include not just the reading of the numerous victim impact statements but submissions from prosecutors and defence lawyers.
When determining an appropriate and likely aggregate sentence for Button's many charges, a judge will have to weigh the objective seriousness of the crash - the lives lost, the responsibility he had to get his passengers home safely - against Button's subjective circumstances, including his age, health and background.
The judge may also take into account whether Button is remorseful and whether he has good prospects of rehabilitation as well as highlighting any aggravating or mitigating factors of the offence.
Button will receive the standard 25 per cent discount on his sentence for pleading guilty in the local court, which will likely take years off any sentence he would have otherwise received.
Experienced lawyers who deal with a myriad of cases often say fatal crash sentence proceedings are the worst. There are truly no winners.
Often an act of momentary inattention has left one person dead, another in jail and two families devastated.
And the judges almost always say the same thing; "no sentence I can impose will ever bring the victim back or assuage the feeling of loss his family will forever feel". Nothing will seem like enough.
The families in this case can expect to hear something similar when it comes time for Button to be sentenced.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
