Woman charged with claiming person driving car while using phone was deceased Sea World chopper pilot

A woman caught using her mobile phone while driving tried to claim the person behind the wheel was Sea World helicopter pilot Ash Jenkinson, allegedly nominating him after he had died.

A woman caught using her mobile phone while driving has been charged with trying to claim the person behind the wheel at the time was Sea World helicopter pilot Ash Jenkinson, allegedly nominating him after he had died.

The Park Ridge woman, 33, allegedly claimed Mr Jenkinson was the driver using details found in his obituary.

According to police, Mr Jenkinson’s grieving widow received the fine notice, just weeks after he and three others were killed in a fiery crash when two helicopters collided in January.

The mid-air collision also claimed the lives of British tourists Ron and Diane Hughes and Sydney woman Vanessa Tadros.

The Park Ridge woman was allegedly caught using her mobile phone on December 15 and was issued an infringement notice by the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Police allege the woman nominated Mr Jenkinson as the driver via an online portal on January 9, seven days after the Sea World tragedy, after seeing his death notice.

Sea World Helicopters pilot Ash Jenkinson and partner Kosha Richardson-Johnson.

The pilot’s widow, Kosha Richardson-Johnson, received a replacement notice in Mr Jenkinson’s name on January 19 and contacted authorities in February to say she didn’t know the person behind the wheel and that Mr Jenkinson was not driving.

Investigators then tracked the driver down who allegedly admitted she had fraudulently used Mr Jenkinson’s name and date of birth from an online obituary.

She allegedly told investigators she did so because she had previously received a fine and did not want to lose her licence from the second offence.

Police allege the woman was clearly identifiable as the driver in the notice and was driving her own registered vehicle.

She has been charged with obtaining or dealing with identity information and fraud.

Police confirmed the Park Ridge woman had been issued with a notice to appear in relation to two fraud offences.

The woman is due to appear in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on April 6.

In 2019, former solicitor Shaune Irving was sentenced for making a false statement in relation to speeding in his Mercedes-Benz in 2019.

He signed two statutory declarations stating his partner was driving when investigations through mobile phone data examination proved otherwise.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statutory declarations and three counts of supplying dangerous drugs and received 12 months imprisonment immediately suspended for two years.

The devastating scene of a Helicopter crash between two Sea World Helicopters just outside the tourist park on a sandbank in the Southport Broadwater. Picture: Glenn Hampson

In 2009, former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld was sentenced to at least two years in jail for lying to evade a speeding fine.

He received a maximum three-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to perjury and making a false statement with the intent to pervert the course of justice.

He claimed the driver of the speeding car was a woman who had died years earlier.

High-profile solicitor Bill Potts said it was a terrible irony that the cost of the ticket was “trifling compared to the fraud”.

“It’s always the cover up that causes the real problem,” he said.

“Honesty may cost you your licence but dishonesty can cost you your freedom.”