Fountain crasher thankful despite botched police case
A young Frenchman cheered and shouted his love for Australia through the sunroof of a car, despite a grueling six-week ordeal triggered by an accidental crash into a famous monument.
Eizeur Kouki garnered national attention after returning to the Archibald Fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park in the early hours of June 3.
The 21-year-old French national took a wrong turn while delivering food for Uber Eats and ended up in the park, Sydney Downing Center Local Court heard on Wednesday.
Moving at less than 20 km per hour, he backed into the fountain and got stuck on the edge of the monument.
Kouki, who had only been in Australia for two weeks at the time, was arrested and his passport seized under strict bail conditions.
He appeared in court on Wednesday and was sentenced to prison for negligent driving, failure to reverse properly and driving without an Australian licence.
But it was the charge of negligent driving causing death that concerned Judge Michael Allan most.
“There is absolutely zero evidence that anyone was injured in any way,” he said.
“I am very concerned… a sergeant authorized an accusation based on no evidence whatsoever.”
The bail conditions imposed as a result of the more serious charges left Kouki in the dangerous position of living in a foreign country without any identification documents.
“By living in a mosque he was effectively left homeless and penniless,” Judge Allan said.
He added that there was no evidence before the court to support police that the accident caused $20,000 worth of damage to the fountain.
After police withdrew the erroneous charge, the court was told Kouki was facing offences, which did not require bail restrictions, only carrying fines.
French pleaded guilty and presented the court with a letter of apology to the community.
Judge Allan took this into account and found that the young man was truly remorseful.
The Uber Eats driver was found guilty of the remaining offenses and fined $1,100.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months and will need to obtain an Australian license to drive after that period.
But that won’t be a problem for the Frenchman, who told reporters outside court that he was “done with Australia”.
“I am very, very sorry… because this monument is French and I am French too,” he said.
When asked how he felt about the police following the false accusation, Kouki said the police were “good in Australia”.
But he denied a police officer’s claim that he ate the McDonald’s meal he was supposed to deliver that morning.
“Is he a liar… I don’t eat McDonald’s,” he said.
“This is not halal.”
Moments later, Kouki was seen hanging from the sunroof of a car passing the courthouse, joyfully shouting “Thank you Australia”.
