Jacob Paul Johnston sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for manslaughter of Michelle Wolff
A nurse and mum was travelling home when she was killed by a suicidal driver in a head-on collision. Her daughter had to read her eulogy and graduate within the same week after her tragic death.
Police & Courts
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A beloved nurse and mum-of-four driving home from work was chatting on the phone with her daughter when she was killed by a suicidal driver who deliberately crossed into her lane and collided head-on with her car.
Michelle Wolff’s heartbroken daughter said she “knew something terrible had happened” when their conversation was interrupted by the sound of rattling and her mum stopped responding during their daily call in December 2021.
Mrs Wolff had selflessly stayed back late at her job as a nurse on the day of her death, placing her in the path of 21-year-old Jacob Paul Johnston who was intent on killing himself amid a break up with his girlfriend.
Johnston was listening to the song Stan by Eminem in which the rapper sings about consuming drugs and alcohol and committing suicide in a car crash when he deliberately crossed into Mrs Wolff’s lane as she drove home in the family Nissan Navara, crashing head-on into her car.
Mrs Wolff was killed at the scene but Johnston survived the crash on the D’Aguilar Highway near Harlin, albeit with serious injuries.
Johnston, now 23, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday to charges of manslaughter and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Crown Prosecutor Michael Lehane said on the day of the crash, Johnston had messaged his girlfriend confirming whether their relationship was over.
She replied “we are broken up, I’m sorry” and he responded wishing her all the best, sending his final text message to her at 8.22pm on December 1 before getting in his Mercedes sedan and crashing into Mrs Wolff 30 minutes later.
Mr Lehane said when a seriously injured Johnston was questioned about the crash in hospital, he expressed surprise that he would try to take his own life, telling them “I must have been a complete wreck before it”.
His ex-girlfriend later gave evidence that Johnston had previously spoken about vehicular suicide, saying he would fill the car with gas bottles so it exploded on impact.
She told police that when speculating about the potential impact of a crash hurting other road users, he settled on the opinion that he would not feel guilty because “life was not fair”.
When he was questioned about that allegation, he said it was a joke and a reference to a cartoon.
Johnston has served 778 days in custody and was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after sending a series of emails and letters to his ex-girlfriend from prison urging her to recant her statement to police which she attempted to do.
He was first charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment, however prosecutors upgraded the charge to manslaughter, for which the maximum penalty is life.
The devastation caused by Johnston’s “selfish and repulsive” actions was laid bare in a series of harrowing victim impact statements from Mrs Wolff’s family that were read to the court.
Her daughter Kasey said her mother had celebrated her 49th birthday just four days before she was killed.
She said it was meant to be a happy time for their family with her little brother Kobi graduating from high school two weeks before Mrs Wolff’s death and Casey herself due to graduate as a doctor two weeks later.
“ … but instead I read her eulogy and graduated within the same week,” Ms Wolff said.
She said her mother lived for her family and adored flowers and animals, including her dogs who waited at the driveway for her to come home for months after her death.
“Just being with her made me the happiest I’ve ever been,” Ms Wolff said.
“I was incredibly close with her.
“People say I’m a lot like her and to me it’s the best compliment I could ever receive.”
Ms Wolff said she spoke to her mother every day and they had been on the phone with her mum using hands free Bluetooth as she drove home from work on the day of her death.
She said one moment they were talking happily as usual, and the next she heard rattling which she now knew was her mum’s phone being tossed around the car and “then mum wasn’t talking back”.
She described hearing other people speaking including talking about police coming but “I couldn’t hear her voice anymore”.
“I knew something terrible had happened,” she said.
Ms Wolff said hanging up that last call to her mum to make a frantic call to her father remained one of the hardest decisions of her life.
Mrs Wolff’s husband Gavin and her son Kobi were some of the first on scene at the crash which occurred just minutes from her turn off the highway to home.
Mrs Wolff’s 92-year-old mother told the court in her statement that on the day of her death, her daughter had stayed late at the hospital, putting her in the path of Johnston.
She described her daughter as a selfless and caring woman who adored her family and always went out of her way to help others, regularly dropping by to cook for her or bring flowers to brighten her day.
Mrs Wolff’s husband Gavin said his wife had been the captain of their family’s ship and the love of her life from the day they met as teenagers.
Johnstone was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter charge and a cumulative term of one year for the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was declared a serious violent offender, meaning he will need to serve 80 per cent of the 10-year sentence before he is eligible for parole.
The 778 days he has already spent in custody were declared as time served.
He will be eligible for parole in September 2030.
The family of Mrs Wolff say “no penalty is big enough” after her killer was sentenced to 10 years.
Speaking outside court, Mr Wolff said the loss will live on every day of their lives.
“No penalty is big enough. My family will live with the pain for the rest of their lives,” Mr Wolff said.
“These kids are young, they will have to suffer the pain for their whole life.
“ It’s a pretty empty feeling. Our loss will live on every day of our lives, tears are part of our lives now.”
Mr Wolff said his wife was a caring person and the world needed more people like her.
“Everyone that knew Michelle knew she was such a loving caring person,” he said.
“She was the best mother these kids could ever have and the testimony is in these kids, they are just great human beings.
“She’s up there and she will be very proud of the kids and what they achieved.”
Mrs Wolff’s mother Del Daniells said she was really sad after the sentence.
“It’s been two years but still I am feeling really sad, because my daughter was so beautiful,” she said.
“She was a good daughter, she’s a good mother, now they need their mother and they haven’t got a mother.
“She didn’t deserve to go the way she did.”
Daughter Sophie Wolff, a university student, said she had missed her mother every moment since she was callously taken from her, describing the crippling grief, depression, nightmares and insomnia brought on by the loss.
“Home was a person for me, for all of us, our mum was home,” she said.
“Eight hundred and seventy six days ago, mum was simply driving home from work along the road she has driven for over 20 years.
“She was not even two minutes away from her turn off.
“That night we all stood at the scene hopeless, our lives stopped.”
Ms Wolff said it was difficult to find a meaning to life without her mother.
“She will never get to see me graduate university, get married, meet our children, be a grandparent, celebrate life events with us, and be able to live the next chapter of her life,” she said.
“She now misses out on all of that because of you.
“If you got to meet our mother you would have known how kind, caring, charismatic and loving she is, how strong she is, how she can light up a room as soon as she entered it, how funny and silly, and how much she loves us and everyone loves her, she was considered as everyone’s mother.
“I could stand here all day and tell you how repulsive and selfish I think you are but you are not worthy of my energy nor my breath.”
Mrs Wolff’s son Kobi, who was 17 at the time of her death and had just graduated high school, told the court the vision of the crash scene always lived in his head.
He described his mother as incredibly loving and hardworking, telling the court he was lost without her guidance.
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