Ten mostly young wedding guests were killed and another 25 injured when a bus driven by Brett Andrew Button rolled over at a roundabout in Greta in the NSW Hunter Valley in 2023.
Sentencing proceedings against the company that employed Button - Linq Buslines - and two of its directors took place in Gosford Local Court on Wednesday.
Linq directors Christopher Terrence Fogg, 57, and Anthony John Royle, 53, pleaded guilty to heavy vehicle law breaches by failing to uphold their duty of care, having employed Button in a compromised state.
The two men were convicted and fined $12,000 each and the now-defunct company was fined a total of $650,000.
Button is serving a 32-year prison sentence for his role in the crash, as he was under the influence of opioid painkiller Tramadol and driving too fast at the time.Â
Judge Kirralee Perry denied the defence arguments that the offences were less serious because employment policies were in place but simply not followed when hiring Button.
"Directors cannot put their hands over their ears and rely on a policy," the judge said.
Judge Perry found the company and its directors placed the community at risk of death for seven months while Button was driving for Linq.
"(Button) had previously been employed by another company and had been stood down after they received a doctor's report that he had developed an opioid dependency," the judge said.
"There needs to be a higher level of due diligence when recruiting drivers of heavy vehicles."
The tearful parents of crash victim Rebecca Mullen outlined continuing grief at losing their beloved daughter.
The Singleton woman had been offered a position as a rural GP and, with her fiance, had posted out wedding invites only days before she was killed.
"(Rebecca) wanted to care for and help the people of a community similar to that in which she had been raised," father Matthew Mullen said.
"Her funeral was a testament to how many lives she was able to touch in just 26 years," mother Leanne Mullen said in court.
Mr Mullen said the consequences for the driver were of little comfort to his grieving family.
"I cannot understand how systems and processes supposed to protect the passengers and Bec did not prevent (Button) getting behind the wheel," he said.
Two surviving crash victims gave emotional accounts of the long-lasting physical and mental toll the crash has taken.
Former L'Oreal executive Jason Junkeer spoke of how an acquired brain injury from the crash led to him losing the job of his dreams.
"My body still behaves as though something is about to go wrong ... crowded and noisy places take real effort," he said.
His wife Sharon spent seven weeks in hospital after being dragged along the bitumen after the crash when the window she was sitting next to shattered.
"My nose was broken, my left ear and face required 57 stitches, tendons were severed down to the bone in my second and third fingers," she said.
"Everything in my world changed forever."
Outside court, the Junkeers said they were pleased with the convictions recorded as it would be a permanent sign of how much the crash had impacted them and the other victims.
In July, the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations released a report detailing serious systemic failings in both bus regulation and passenger behaviour that contributed to the crash.
Chief investigator Jim Modrouvanos said not wearing seatbelts on coaches was a serious cultural problem across the community.
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