‘No justice’: grieving mum sobs as killer driver jailed
Adelaide Lang |
An emotional mother has vowed to keep fighting for change after a driver was jailed for nine years for causing a high-speed crash that killed her two children.
Johnson Kokozian, 23, was taking his friends on a joyride in his brand new SUV when he tried to overtake a car at Heckenberg, in southwest Sydney, in 2023.
The suspended driver had crossed the Mercedes-Benz AMG onto the wrong side of the road at double the 50km/h speed limit when he crashed head-on into a car containing two siblings.
He failed to stop and help Alina Kauffman, 24, and Ernesto Salazar, 15, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
Instead, Kokozian fled the scene and focused on his destruction of the uninsured luxury car, proclaiming that flipping the car meant $300,000 was gone.
The driver’s conduct after the September 1 crash amounted to “an abandonment of moral responsibility”, NSW District Court Judge David Arnott said on Wednesday.
He had been more worried about the money he lost by crashing his new car than the wellbeing of the occupants of the other vehicle, which he rushed past as he left the scene.
“His failure to stop and assist can only be described as serious and callous,” Judge Arnott said.
“There is no doubt that self-preservation and self-interest were key factors in his decision to flee the scene.”
While Kokozian had shown no remorse in the aftermath of the crash, the judge found he now experienced “overwhelming guilt”.
Two charges of manslaughter were withdrawn when he eventually pleaded guilty to two counts each of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to assist after a fatal impact.
He was jailed for nine years with a minimum sentence of five-and-a-half years.
The victims’ mother was overcome with emotion when she exited the courthouse after the decision was handed down.
“There is no justice,” she said through sobs.
“My kids’ lives mean nothing to the court.”
Ms Kauffman, who wore a jumper emblazoned with a photo of her children, has continuously advocated for justice for her two children during the lengthy legal process.
She said the fact Kokozian could be released on parole in three years was unjust.
“This man gets to go out and live his life,” Ms Kauffman said.
“My kids are in the ground.”
Despite feeling as if her soul had been ripped out for a second time, the grieving mother said she would continue to push for change in her children’s names.
“I’ll never give up,” she vowed.
She gathered more than 20,000 signatures on a petition requesting the NSW parliament consider increasing the maximum penalties for serious road crimes.
A subsequent Law Reform Commission review handed down in February 2025 found penalties for serious road crimes were appropriate and higher maximum penalties were unlikely to do more to deter offending.
A new vehicular manslaughter offence should not be introduced because it was unnecessary and could cause confusion, the review determined.
Kokozian’s sentencing marks the culmination of an investigation that ensnared his girlfriend, friends, and family.
His father Kagadour Hanna Kokozian, 63, pleaded guilty in 2025 to trying to conceal the deadly crash and hindering a police investigation.
After his son told him he had been driving, the elder Kokozian called police to report his son’s car as stolen.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Kokozian’s passenger in the Mercedes, Cruz Pamoana Davis-Tuka, received a 15-month intensive corrections order in 2025 for his role in concealing the crash and hindering police.
But Kokozian’s girlfriend Tiana Savignano, 24, will contest the same charges in the NSW District Court this year after pleading not guilty.
Ms Kauffman said she had high hopes for a strong penalty after the proceedings were dragged out for so long but she had been shocked by the driver’s sentence.
“This is a joke,” she said.
AAP