Coroner hands down findings into horror Monaro Highway crash as driver's prison sentence ends

After more than a year of talks with police and the forensic pathologist, the ACT coroner has released his findings into the death of two teenage girls in a car crash along the Monaro Highway in 2022.

It comes at the same time as the killer’s prison sentence ends and an independent panel of experts begins a review of the ACT’s bail laws to make sure something like it never happens again.

In the early hours of 9 October 2022, a 16-year-old driver and his friend left 14-year-old Susi Kopysiewicz and her best friend, 15-year-old Claire Sankey, for dead by the side of the road.

Earlier that night, the teenager had drunk 12 beers and half a bottle of rum before taking the keys to his mother’s red Toyota Camry and driving with his friend to pick up Claire and then Susi, despite being only on his L-plates.

Court documents say that “while trying to impress” the two girls, he “attempted to cause the rear of the vehicle to slide out in the wet conditions while driving through roundabouts”.

A traffic camera picked him speeding at 200 km/h northbound along the Monaro Highway.

Both Susi and Claire told him to slow down, while his friend looked at the odometer and saw the speed was 180 km/h, shortly before the driver lost control near the Lanyon Drive intersection.

The car slid across two lanes, spun, crashed through temporary construction fencing and smashed rear-first into two trees, breaking one off at the trunk.

The friend got out of the car and called out to the girls in the back seats, but the driver was the only person who responded. They both ran from the scene and caught an Uber home.

Police officers arrived at the scene at 8:30 am after another motorist saw the car and found the two girls inside it.

“Subsequent autopsy reports revealed both deceased survived the collision for a period of time though the period of time could not be determined,” court documents say.

The driver pled guilty to multiple charges, including two counts of culpable driving causing death, failure to render assistance, being an unaccompanied learner driver, and four other unrelated offences.

On 19 July 2023, the ACT Supreme Court sentenced him to a total of three years and 10 months in prison, suspended after he served two years.

He is scheduled to be released from custody this month if he signs a good behaviour order for the next 22 months.

In his report, released on 12 September 2024, ACT Coroner Ken Archer confirmed both girls had died of “multiple injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision”.

He also ruled out “environmental conditions” as a contributor to the crash, and while “severely damaged”, the vehicle “seemed to have been in good condition … prior to the collision”.

Mr Archer said both he and the girls’ families had agreed a subsequent hearing was unnecessary.

“I convey my sincere condolences to Claire’s and Susi’s families,” he said.

“There is no doubt Claire and Susi’s deaths have devastated their families and caused them immeasurable grief.”

The teenage driver had previously been sentenced over other crimes and was on bail over two incidents, including a robbery, at the time of the crash.

This attracted criticism of the ACT’s bail system and ultimately led to the formation of the Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council (LRSAC), an independent panel of experts charged with examining the ACT’s bail system and dangerous driving sentences.

“If you’re a victim in Canberra, don’t expect much justice,” Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) president Alex Caruana said at the time.

“The question that the judiciary and Attorney-General must answer is this: would these two young teenagers be alive today if the judiciary had previously refused this young man bail?”

So far, the LRSAC has released its report on dangerous driving: sentencing and recidivism and will start work on the ACT bail legislation review next month. The report is due on 30 June 2025.

Since the crash, two eucalypt trees at the site have been decorated with lights, flowers, photos and other personal items as a memorial to the two girls.

But the ACT Government confirmed earlier this year this would have to be removed to make way for upgrades to the Monaro Highway, including a new flyover at the Lanyon Drive intersection.

In an update, a spokesperson from Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) told Region the construction contractor has been having regular discussions about moving the memorial to a “new suitable location nearby”.

“A general location has been agreed to and the memorial will be relocated to that area soon,” the spokesperson said.

“There is no definite time frame as yet when it will be moved.”