Killer driver Connor Mathiasson sentenced over Kooyong crash that killed Melbourne model Elise Hodder
The mother of a Melbourne model killed by an unlicensed, drunk and drug-affected driver has wept in court as the offender was sentenced.
The killer driver who mowed down Melbourne model Elise Hodder after a late-night rave in Kooyong could be free in less than seven years.
Connor Mathiasson, 24, was sentenced in the County Court on Monday to 11 years’ jail with a non-parole period of seven years after he admitted to killing Ms Hodder, 24.
With 18 days already served, he will be eligible for parole in 2032 as a 31-year-old.
But outside court, Ms Hodder’s father, Michael, said his family had been “sentenced for life”.
“Our Elise was one of the most beautiful, loving people that you could ever imagine – the type of person that we need in our society at the moment,” he said.
“And she has no life, no future … and family and friends have a life sentence and this continues because of poor policy, poor legislation, in this state.”
He added: “This was another male in charge of a motor vehicle, which is effectively a weapon, that has killed another female in this state.
“This is over-represented and our daughter died a horrific death in the most evil of circumstances by a person that should not have been driving and had plenty of opportunities to not drive.”
Michael stared at the man who stole his daughter’s life as the sentence was handed down, while Ms Hodder’s mother, Pauline, wept beside him.
The court heard Mathiasson, from Sunbury, was unlicensed, drunk and on drugs when he jumped behind the wheel of his golden Holden Commodore in the car park of the Malvern City Football Club after a rave on October 13 last year.
CCTV footage captured Mathiasson reversing out “at high speed” about 1.05am before hitting Ms Hodder, from Clifton Hill, and her friends, who had arrived at the rave only minutes earlier.
But instead of braking, he then accelerated, mowing down Ms Hodder.
Two kind police officers on their hands and knees comforted Ms Hodder in her final moments as she lay crushed under the car.
Ms Hodder’s best friend, Emma Swords, was also hit by the car and suffered two broken ankles.
A breath test revealed Mathiasson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.213, more than four times the legal limit, and a blood sample detected a presence of cocaine and cannabis.
Wearing a prison-issued grey tracksuit, the killer driver showed no emotion as he sat in the dock at the back of the packed courtroom.
Judge Robyn Harper told him his “contempt for the safety” of other motorists had caused the “catastrophic collision”.
“You were a collision waiting to happen,” she said.
She told him the gravity of his offending could not be higher given his “overwhelmingly negligent behaviour”.
“Ms Hodder has lost her life. Ms Swords’ future has been irreparably damaged – all because you chose to drive negligently while significantly affected by alcohol,” she said.
She added: “You will have to live with that decision for the rest of your life.”
Last month, Pauline described to the court her horror when she learnt that her daughter had been dragged under the car and trapped for hours.
“The thought of that being the end of her life and in those circumstances, without me or Michael there to comfort her, is unbearable,” she said.
“As her parents, we had always protected her and kept her safe.
“I would have laid beside her, kept her warm, kissed her, comforted her and told her that we loved her.
“I would have said goodbye. What a violent, cruel ending for my gentle, loving girl.”
Judge Harper described the grief he had caused as “immeasurable” given no family should have to bury their child.
Mathiasson pleaded guilty last month to culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury.
The court heard he was remorseful and had penned letters to the Hodder family, but did not know if he should send them.
“They just seem to want me dead,” he told his psychologist, according to Judge Harper.
“I would probably want the same thing.”
The court heard his mother took her own life when he was a teenager and he started self-medicating to deal with the trauma.
He claimed to have been drinking the night of the tragedy because his girlfriend had broken up with him weeks earlier.
Last month, Pauline told the court her only daughter, a lifeguard and a model, had a “sunny personality” and had grown into a beautiful, graceful woman with “crystal blue eyes” and a “megawatt smile”.
Only days before her death, Ms Hodder had celebrated her debut in a New York fashion magazine.
