Boy sentenced to seven years' jail over crash that killed grandmother
Rosemary Franzidis was killed when the boy — aged 16 at the time — lost control of a stolen car crashing into her car and an unmarked police vehicle.
A 16-year-old boy, who was driving a stolen blue Audi when it collided with a white Toyota Corolla driven by Rosemary Franzidis, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for her death. The crash occurred on November 7, 2024, in Murrumba Downs, north of Brisbane. Rosemary, 69, suffered severe injuries in the impact, including fractures to her neck and back, multiple punctures to her lung, and brain hemorrhaging.
Despite emergency responders' efforts, she could not be saved and died at the scene. The stolen Audi had accelerated to outrun a red light before the collision. The young boy had taken drugs before the incident and had been involved in violent offenses earlier that day, including attempting to rob three individuals with a replica firearm.
Thirteen minutes before the fatal crash, he had stopped a woman, Ms. Robertson, and threatened her with the replica gun to take her car keys. After the fatal collision, the young boy also struck a police car, injuring two officers inside. The judge at the Brisbane Supreme Court emphasized the severity of the defendant's actions, describing them as "truly awful" and noting that the incident had a "devastating and enduring impact" on the Franzidis family.
The judge ordered the defendant to serve half of his sentence in prison before being released on an adult parole order, which will allow him to be released in 2028.
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