Backpacker crushed to death at avocado farm after 'sneaking off to have sex'
A German backpacker died after a lawnmower crash in an avocado farm while on a “romantic outing”, a coroner has ruled.
Jennifer Kohl, 27, was on a working holiday in Australia in February 2017 with her boyfriend Paul Tunik, 27. They had been working on the Tamborine Mountain farm, around 20 km north-west of the Gold Coast, for two or three weeks before Ms Kohl’s tragic death in December 2017.
Coroner Carol Lee finalised her findings and handed them in on Friday to Southport Magistrates Court after a two-day inquest in May 2023. She found that the farm could not have foreseen that Mr Tunik would break the instructions provided to them and instead drive the mower through an overgrown and steep area.
The couple had started working on the 10-acre farm at 8am on December 8, 2017 when they were tasked with picking four crates of avocados by other farm workers. They would drive a ride-on John Deere X595 four-wheel-drive lawn mower with a homemade trailer around the orchard, before loading it up and taking it to the packing shed.
Cornelia Kohl, Jessica's mother, travelled from Germany to Australia for the inquest (Alamy Stock Photo)But at 11am tragedy struck when Mr Tunik was driving the mower with Ms Kohl sitting on the wheel arch. Mr Tunik drove down a steep hill and turned sharply in order to make it slow down - but it rolled over and trapped Ms Kohl underneath. Mr Tunik was knocked unconscious, but after he woke up he tried to move the mower of Ms Kohl unsuccessfully. After he phoned the emergency services at 11:20am there was a delay in them arriving, partly a result of Mr Tunik’s limited English, Mail Online reports.
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He was able to flag down cars passing by but even with the help of three others, it was not possible to free Ms Kohl. When paramedics arrived at 11:52am it was already too late. They extracted Ms Kohl, but she could not be revived. Ms Kohl passed away from traumatic asphyxia, an autopsy showed.
The co-owners of the farm, Kathryn Singleton and Kenneth Jacobi, were found to have provided sufficient instruction and supervision of the two adults in their use of the mower and trailer in designated areas. But Ms Lee recommended that the Department of Home Affairs should set up a “one stop shop” website to advise holiday workers of workplace health and safety, along with their statutory rights in Australia.
The romantic nature of Mr Tunik and Ms Kohl’s trip was also revealed in the coroner's report, as it emerged that the couple didn’t have any fruit picking equipment at the time of the specific trip in which they crashed. “Mr Tunik and Ms Kohl had completed (work) on the day of the accident and had engaged in sexual intercourse in a disused and out of sight part of the property, on a joyride pretending the property was theirs,” Ms Lee said.
Ms Lee also expressed sincere condolences. “Her death has had an impact on many people, in particular her mother who travelled from Germany for the inquest,” she said.
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