The mother of two used the name of Ash Jenkinson – who died in a horror helicopter crash at Sea World – to escape a fine just a week after he was killed.
The 10-year-old boy doctors feared would not survive the deadly Sea World helicopter crash on the Gold Coast has made a miraculous recovery.
Nicholas Tadros has been cleared of serious brain injury and is speaking, but must wait to see if his seriously injured leg can be saved.
He was critically injured after two Sea World helicopters collided mid-air, killing his mother Vanessa, British tourists Ron and Diane Hughes, and pilot Ash Jenkinson.
Investigations into the crash continue.
Stephanie Louise Bennett, 33, cried as she pleaded guilty to obtaining or dealing with identity information and fraud in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday.
On December 15 she was caught using her mobile phone while driving and sent a $1078 ticket and hit with four demerit points which would cause her to lose her license.
Bennett could not afford the fine because she was already owing money to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry and feared losing her job as a forklift driver.
Stephanie Louise Bennett had her fine doubled and a conviction recorded for using a false name to escape a fine. Picture: John Gass
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In an act of desperation she looked in the obituary notices in the hope to nominate a recently deceased person as the driver.
The court heard the mother of two had attempted to nominate several names through an online portal as the driver to avoid paying the fine without success.
Bennett then nominated helicopter pilot Ash Jenkinson as the driver on January 9 after she got his details from his obituary.
The father of one had died just a week earlier in a horror helicopter crash at Sea World on the Gold Coast.
Sea World Helicopters resume flights after tragic mid-air collision
Bennett’s lawyer Zane Chapman said when she realised who Mr Jenkinson was had immediately wanted to reverse it but was unsure how to do so.
The attempt to brush the fine resulted in Mr Jenkinson’s widow receiving a fine not long after she attended her husband’s funeral.
“She said that she had never seen the vehicle depicted in the infringement notice that she did not know the person who had nominated Jenkinson,” Police prosecutor Tahlia Beottcher told the court, ABC News reported.
Mr Chapman said she had suffered great embarrassment and shame from her acts and the media coverage that followed.
Second helicopter pilot did an ‘amazing’ job at landing under circumstances
In response Magistrate Mark Howden acknowledged she had made a mistake and that Bennett was otherwise a “law-abiding citizen” but that people were still impacted.
“As a result of that mistake people have been seriously impacted, grieving people, but she also has been seriously impacted,” he said.
The Magistrate decided to hand Ms Bennett a $2,000 fine, almost double the original amount, and record a conviction.
Mr Jenkinson, a father of one, was killed when alongside three of his passengers when two choppers collided in mid-air on the Gold Coast on January 2.
There was an outpouring of support for the chopper pilot who was labelled a “hero” for his efforts in helping deliver emergency packages to dozens of families in the Northern Rivers cut off by rising waters that devastated the community.