Jennifer Kohl: Two set to be charged relating to German backpacker’s 2017 death on Gold Coast avocado farm
Two people are set to be charged in relation to the 2017 death of a German backpacker at a Gold Coast avocado farm.
Crime and Court
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TWO people are facing the prospect of being charged in relation to the 2017 death of a German backpacker at a Gold Coast avocado farm.
Kathryn Singleton and Kenneth William Jacobi, understood to be business partners at Mt Tamborine Avocados, are the subject of complaints laid by Workplace Health and Safety.
The complaints relate to the death of Jennifer Kohl, a 27-year-old German backpacker employed by the Mt Tamborine business.
She had just two months left of her Australian adventure when tragedy struck at the Macdonnell Rd property.
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Ms Kohl was using a ride-on lawnmower on December 8, 2017, when it flipped, pinning her to the ground.
Other workers and neighbours ran to help her, but she could not be saved.
Last week, Workplace Health and Safety said: “The Office of the Work Health Safety Prosecutor has laid complaints against Kathryn Singleton and Kenneth William Jacobi (Mt Tamborine Avocados) under section 32 and 19(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
“These matters are returnable at the Beaudesert Magistrates Court on 24 September 2019 at 9:00am.”
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Ms Singleton and Mr Jacobi could not be contacted.
The first complaint under section 32 relates to allegedly failing to comply with health and safety duties, while the second under section 19(1), relates to a business ensuring the health and safety of employees when engaging with work activities as far as reasonably practical.
The search for answers to Ms Kohl’s death has been a 1.5 year nightmare for her mother Cornelia Schroder.
“As a mother it is cruel to lose your child in this way,” Ms Schroder told the Bulletin from Leipzig.
“I suffer day and night from her loss so (much so) that I have depressive phases and I can hardly think clearly to cope with my everyday life.
“The loss of my daughter Jennifer is almost unbearable. I want to finally find peace and make peace and carry my daughter (with) loving thoughts and in my heart.
“It is so important to me and a huge need to be able to come to Australia to be close to her again at the place where she died.”
Ms Kohl’s body was autopsied and her ashes returned to Germany last year.
She said she was “relieved” the matter was going through the courts and hoped that justice would prevail.
Ms Schroder has been fighting for better conditions for backpackers across Australia through the media since her daughter’s death.
She is desperate to come to Australia to be there when the matter goes through court, but does not have enough funds.
A friend set up a Go Fund Me account to help her raise €2500.
Ms Schroder said she is also trying to contact a male friend called Paul who worked with Ms Kohl, to help her retrace her daughter’s final months in Australia.
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