Young model’s family suffer a life sentence as drink driver jailed for her death

3 months ago 20

A drunk driver who ran over an aspiring model outside a Kooyong park rave was a “collision waiting to happen” according to a judge who jailed him for at least seven years over the fatal crash.

Elise Hodder’s family huddled together outside the County Court on Monday, where her father Michael said his daughter’s death had been a life sentence for them.

“Our Elise was one of the most beautiful, loving people that you can imagine,” he said.

“Our daughter died a horrific death in the most evil of circumstances by a person that should not have been driving.

“This was another male in charge of a motor vehicle, frequently a weapon, that has killed another female in the state.”

Connor Mathiasson, 24, was unlicensed and had a blood alcohol reading of .213 - more than three times the legal alcohol limit - when he tried to drive out of the Sir Zelman Cowen Park about 1am on October 13, 2024.

Connor Mathiasson, the 23-year-old driver accused of killing Elise Hodder.

At the same time, Hodder and best friend Emma Swords, 26, were walking through the carpark with a group of friends when Mathiasson’s gold Holden Commodore sped through the area, crashed into parked cars and slammed into the group of pedestrians.

Swords was left with two broken ankles and Hodder pinned under the car.

Police who had been nearby arrived quickly and tried to comfort Hodder for about five minutes before she lost consciousness and stopped breathing.

Mathiasson told police, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it”, as he was arrested at the scene.

“This was a catastrophic collision entirely of your doing,” Judge Robyn Harper said.

“You were a collision waiting to happen. The grief you have caused is immeasurable.”

Harper said 25 victim impact statements were provided to the court, including from Hodder’s parents, who recalled being woken by police telling them their daughter had been killed.

“The thought of it being the end of her life ... without me or Michael there to comfort her is unbearable. What a violent, cruel ending for my gentle, loving girl,” mother Pauline Hodder said.

Michael and Pauline Hodder told a court about the effect their daughter’s death has had on them.

Swords spoke of the survivor’s guilt she now lives with.

“I watched my best friend die. I survived in a way that haunts me.”

Harper said Mathiasson showed a contempt for the safety of other road users on the night of the crash.

“Ms Hodder has lost her life and Ms Swords’ future was irreparably damaged, all because you chose to drive negligently while significantly affected by alcohol,” she said.

“You will have to live with that decision for the rest of your life. A risk so tragically realised.”

The court heard Mathiasson grew up in Riddles Creek and Sunbury, leaving school in year 10 to work in trades.

He began drinking heavily and using drugs, particularly after the death of his mother when he was 16.

Weeks before the collision, a long-term relationship also ended.

In sentencing Mathiasson, Harper said young men were overrepresented in the courts for driving offences.

She sentenced him to 11 years in jail with a non-parole period of seven years after he pleaded guilty to culpable driving and negligently causing serious injury.

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