‘Ridiculous’: mum slams sentence for car crash cover-up
“There is no justice here.”
These were the heartbreaking words of a mother who learned that a man who tried to hide the truth about the crash that killed her two children would escape from prison.
Hanna Kokozian, 64, of Kagadour, handed over the keys to a brand new Mercedes SUV to her son Johnson on the night of September 1, 2023, despite her driver’s license being suspended.
The 23-year-old was enjoying a joyride with friends in the western Sydney suburb of Heckenberg, on the wrong side of the road and 50km/h over the speed limit, when he crashed head-on into a car carrying his two siblings.
Johnson fled without stopping to help 24-year-old Alina Kauffman and 15-year-old Ernesto Salazar, who died at the scene.
Judge David Arnott said the father “knew exactly what he was doing” when he misled police by falsely reporting the SUV as stolen to protect his son.
Judge Arnott ruled the former kitchen steward’s attack was unpremeditated and motivated by panic.
But the judge said his “actions escalated into remarkable activity lasting several days” and that he showed no reluctance.
Taking into account Kokozian’s remorse and reasonable prospects for rehabilitation, he sentenced him to 15 months in prison, to be served in the community, with the condition that he continue psychological counseling.
The elder Kokozian sat bent over his cane, his head in his hands, as Judge Arnott described the 64-year-old’s efforts to deceive police.
These included lying to a triple-zero operator and lying on a police form that the car was stolen, and making numerous statements, not changing his tune until he was arrested five days after the crash.
Judge Arnott described the victims’ mother, grandmother and sister as “shattered with grief and forever changed” by the accident, which Kokozian tried to conceal.
The victims’ mother, Angelina Kauffman, watched from the gallery as Judge Arnott delivered his verdict in Campbelltown District Court on Thursday.
He called the sentence “nonsense” and lamented that “my children died for nothing.”
“You can do whatever you want in Australia and get away with it,” Ms Kauffman told AAP on Thursday.
“You can kill someone, it’s okay, you can cover it up, it’s okay, you can lie to the police, it’s okay.”
Kokozian’s son was sentenced to nine years in prison in March for causing the fatal crash and abandoning the two victims.
Once the manslaughter charges are replaced with driving charges, he will be eligible for parole in as little as three years.
Ms Kauffman has collected more than 20,000 signatures on a petition demanding the NSW parliament consider increasing maximum penalties for serious road offences.
However, subsequent review by the Law Reform Commission found that a new offense of vehicular manslaughter was unnecessary and higher maximum sentences were unlikely to act as a deterrent.
“I will never stop fighting for my children,” Ms. Kauffman promised.
