Yassin Hussein El Seidi sentenced over Tegan Galea-Elson death and Tahlia Mardini injuries

More than seven years on from a horrific smash which left one woman dead and another with lifelong injuries after emerging from a coma, the young driver responsible has shown “callous” disregard to the families he destroyed.

Tahlia Mardini, pictured in December 2020 with dog Maui, was in a coma for 5 weeks in January 2018 after she and her friend were involved in a car accident where the driver lost control of the car he was driving and killed her friend Tegan and put Tahlia into hospital where she went through 25 surgeries. Tahlia fronted a state government safe driving campaign in 2020/21 aimed at getting drivers to slow down in the holiday season. Picture: Toby Zerna

As 2017 was drawing to a close, just minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, Yassin Hussein El Seidi – high on prescription drugs – was speeding and showing off as he weaved in and out of traffic.

He was taking two young women, Tegan Galea-Elson and Tahlia Mardini to a NYE party.

Moments later, El Seidi slammed into a parked ute with such force it flew into a power pole 10 metres away, where it shifted the pole on impact and rebounded a metre.

Ms Galea-Elson died at the crash scene at Yagoona just minutes after the new year ticked by on January 1, 2018. She was just 17.

Her best friend Ms Mardini was 16 at the time and suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as fractures to her skull and neck, multiple facial injuries and partial hearing and vision loss. She spent a month in a coma and had to learn to walk, eat and talk again, and her rehabilitation continues today.

Three trials later, the man behind the wheel, Yassin Hussein El Seidi has been found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and was sentenced on Friday.

Tahlia Mardini was seriously injured in a car crash in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2018, her friend Tegan Galea-Elson, 17 died after they accepted a lift to a party. Tahlia survived & her life was changed forever. She was in a coma for several weeks after the crash, has received multiple surgeries and sustained a traumatic brain injury which she continues to live with every day. Pictures supplied

Seven years on from the horror of it all, he still shows “callous” disregard for the shattered lives and destroyed families which came as a result of his actions.

The matter has been the subject of an appeal and in 2021 previous convictions and sentences quashed, then in December 2022 a jury was unable to reach a verdict.

In March this year a judge-alone trial delivered a guilty verdict and on Friday, Judge Jane Culver sentenced El Seidi, now 25, to a non-parole jail sentence of three years and three months meaning he will first be eligible for parole on May 27 next year.

As the complicated case travelled through the courts El Seidi has spent a total of 765 days remanded in custody at different times and other periods on curfew-style bail and this was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Tahlia Mardini was seriously injured in a car crash in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2018, her friend Tegan Galea-Elson, 17 died after they accepted a lift to a party. Pictures supplied

Judge Culver detailed the heartbreaking witness impact statements from the families and loved ones of the victims, including that of Tegan’s father who said that throughout the three trials he had not once witnessed El Seidi shed a tear.

“No pain ever imaginable can come close to what I feel every day and he doesn’t seem to be sorry for taking my daughter’s life.”

Tegan’s siblings said their mother was now “a shell of the woman she once was” and that they had watched their father crumble as the years went by.

Judge Culver said El Seidi’s evidence was rambling and devoid of insight and his “callousness” was displayed most vividly in his assertion that it was all an accident and Tahlia should “get over it” and forgive him like many others had.

Tahlia Mardini, pictured in December 2020, was in a coma for 5 weeks in January 2018 after she and her friend were involved in a car accident where the driver lost control of the car he was driving and killed her friend Tegan and put her into hospital where she went through 25 surgeries. Picture: Toby Zerna.

Even his defence team said there was no evidence of remorse to take into consideration during sentencing.

El Seidi continued to maintain he had suffered an epileptic seizure at the time of the crash and the prescription drugs in his system were related to this.

In addition to a lack of remorse it was heard during sentencing that El Seidi had been showing off as he drove through several Sydney suburbs including Punchbowl, Lakemba and Greenacre in the lead up to the crash telling the girls his car was “a shit box but still goes fast - it flies”.

A witness in an earlier trial estimated El Seidi was doing 80-90kmh in a 50kmh zone, saying the small car sped by so fast it made her 4WD shake.

When his car collided with a parked ute the impact was so great it sent the ute careening into a power pole 10 metres away, where it shifted the pole on impact and rebounded a metre.

In the years since the crash El Seidi has gained a number of degrees including a Bachelor of Construction Management and studied Arabic.