German backpacker Jennifer Kohl, 27, was crushed to death by a lawnmower on an avocado farm after sneaking off to have sex with her boyfriend Paul Tunik on quiet corner of property
Jennifer Kohl, 27, died in December 2017
A German backpacker who died after a lawnmower crash on a Queensland avocado farm was on a “romantic getaway” outside designated working areas, a coroner has found.
Jennifer Kohl, 27, arrived in Australia in February 2017 for a working holiday with her 27-year-old boyfriend Paul Tunik.
The pair had worked on the farm at Tamborine Mountain, about 20km northwest of the Gold Coast, for two to three weeks before Ms Kohl's death in December 2017.
Coroner Carol Lee announced her findings at Southport Magistrates Court on Friday following a two-day inquest in May 2023.
Ms Lee discovered that the farm could not have foreseen that Mr Tunik would ignore the instructions and drive the mower through a steep and overgrown area.
“Mr. Tunik and Ms. Kohl had completed their work on the day of the accident and had engaged in sexual intercourse in a disused and out-of-sight part of the property, taking a joyride as if they owned the property,” Ms. Lee said .
At 8 a.m. on December 8, 2017, the couple began work on the 10-acre farm and were tasked with picking four crates of avocados in a few hours.
The job consisted of driving a large John Deere X595 riding mower with four-wheel drive and a homemade trailer to the orchard, loading it and driving back to the packing shed.
Ms Kohl's mother traveled to Australia for her daughter's inquest
About 11 a.m. that morning, Mr. Tunik was driving the mower while Ms. Kohl sat on the wheel well.
Mr. Tunik drove the mower down a steep hill and to slow down he made a sharp turn, causing the mower to roll and trapping Ms. Kohl underneath it, the coroner found.
After regaining consciousness, Mr. Tunik tried unsuccessfully to remove Ms. Kohl's mower and shouted triple zero at 11:20 am.
There was a delay in emergency services arriving on the scene, partly due to Mr Tunik's limited English.
Mr. Tunik flagged down passing cars, but even with the help of three bystanders, Ms. Kohl could not be freed.
Paramedics arrived at 11.52am and extracted Ms Kohl, but she could not be resuscitated.
An autopsy later revealed that Ms. Kohl died of traumatic asphyxiation.
Ms Lee discovered on Friday that the farm's co-owners, Kathryn Singleton and Kenneth Jacobi, had provided two adults with adequate instruction and supervision on how to use the mower and trailer in the designated areas.
Mr Tunik had given evidence about the “romantic nature of the outing” and Ms Lee said the couple had no fruit picking equipment with them at the time of the crash.
Ms Lee recommended that the Department of Home Affairs set up a 'one-stop-shop' website for holiday workers to advise them on workplace health and safety and their legal rights in Australia.
Ms. Lee expressed her sincere condolences to Ms. Kohl's family over the tragic accident.
“Her death has had an impact on many people, especially her mother who traveled from Germany for the inquest,” Ms Lee said.