Nick Dinakis, the survivor of a horrific wedding bus crash in the Hunter Valley 15 months ago which killed 10 including his partner Darcy Bulman, told a court on Monday, September 9 how he will never forgive the driver Brett Button.
On June 11, 2023, Button drove 35 guests 15 minutes home to Singleton after they had celebrated the wedding of their friends Mitchell Gaffney and Madeleine Edsell at Wandin Valley Estate. Passengers told him to slow down and that they were afraid, before the bus rolled on a roundabout about 11.30pm near Greta. It was later revealed he was addicted to opioids.
59-year-old Button pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death following the horror crash, which also injured 25 passengers.
Reading from a statement on Monday during an expected three-day sentence hearing for Button, Dinakis said he was a broken man.
Dinakis planned to propose to Darcy on a long-awaited trip to Europe this year. He was on the bus, breaking his neck and suffering a brain injury which he may never recover from.
“You killed her. You took away her opportunity to become the one thing she always dreamt of – a mother. We both came from broken families and together we had created our own… You killed my family, the future mother of my children, my future wife, my best friend,” Dinakis said in court.
He spoke of how his career had been ruined, that he was now unable to work at the “top of my game” and suffered from crippling anxiety which stopped him being in public or social settings.
“My life is no longer for living but more about survival,” Dinakis said.
The victim impact statements will continue over the coming two days, with the Crown and defence to argue their cases before the sentence is expected to be handed down on Wednesday.
Source: Nine News.
