Mother says Jocelyn Mollee’s death in Bruce Hwy carnage overshadowed by twins’ video

The mother of a young woman killed in a horrific string of alleged carjackings on the Bruce Highway says she feels as though her daughter’s death has been forgotten.

Jocelyn's mother Amanda Chippendale feels like her daughter's death has been overshadowed.

The mother of a young woman killed in a horrific string of alleged carjackings on the Bruce Highway says she feels as though her daughter’s death was overshadowed and wants her remembered for the ray of sunshine she was.

Jocelyn Grace Mollee, 22, died on the way home from spending Easter with her boyfriend’s family in Hervey Bay just two weeks ago following a horrific six-vehicle crash in the southbound lanes of the Bruce Highway at Palmview.

Police allege Bradley Donald Towle – who was wanted on a warrant – lost control of his Porsche Macan, causing the crash before allegedly shooting a 62-year-old man in the arm and stealing his car as well as carjacking a learner driver in a terrifying series of events.

The crash that claimed the life of Joceylyn Mollee on Easter Monday. Picture: Nine News

But after Jocelyn’s tragic death, an interview with Queensland twins recounting the incident went viral, turning much of the coverage away from the young woman who lost her life.

Speaking to The Sunday Mail, Jocelyn’s mother Amanda Chippendale said she felt the viral coverage, which extended as far as US talk show Jimmy Kimmel, shifted the focus from the tragic events to something “gimmicky”.

“I feel like the focus got shifted from Jocelyn’s death, the gentleman that got shot in the arm, and the poor young lady that was the learner driver,” she said.

“All of those things sort of got overshadowed by things that were probably gimmicky.

“I don’t think the trauma of the other things that had happened before that event was actually recognised enough and the impact that all of that has had on so many other lives – like all of the surrounding vehicles near the accident, all of those first responders, all of the hospital staff in that whole event. None of those people have been recognised.”

Ms Chippendale said she wanted people to remember Jocelyn as the gentle soul that she was.

“I don’t want her to be forgotten,” she said.

Amanda Chippendale said the focused moved away from her daughter after the incident that claimed her life. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“She’s a ray of sunshine to so many people. So many people have said to me ‘her smile would just light up the world’ and that they felt that, when she looked at them, that she was seeing into their soul. And that’s what I want people to remember. She’d do anything for everyone.”

Ms Chippendale said she didn’t want her daughter to be seen as just another number.

“Jocelyn now will be a road statistic, and that’s not how I want her remembered,” she said.

“She’ll be a victim of crime, and that’s not how I want her remembered, but that will be part of Jocelyn’s story now, and I don’t think that that’s the way that it should be.

“That’s not how the world should be. People should be caring for each other. People should be kind to each other, and that’s just not the way that the world’s going.”

Ms Chippendale said the state government’s focus was on youth crime but the laws needed to be strengthened for adult offenders too.

Jocelyn pictured with her brother Joseph, sister Imogen and mum Amanda. Picture: Supplied

“There needs to be a change,” she said. “Something needs to happen to them.”

Ms Chippendale said their whole family were distraught and shattered by Jocelyn’s death.

She said she had only moved to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast last year to spend more time with her daughter who was studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland.

“I moved back to Brisbane because I wanted to be more together as a family. It was just hard to be away from them,” she said.

“It’s been myself and the three kids for so long that I just missed them heaps.”

They had all been living in the same house for the last year, along with their grandmother.

Ms Chippendale said her last conversation with her daughter had been about what a great time she had in Hervey Bay.

“We just said ‘happy Easter’ and then I just said ‘talk to you soon’,” she said.

Jocelyn died just two days before Ms Chippendale’s birthday.

“It was really hard,” she said.

Jocelyn Mollee, 22, was studying engineering at the University of Queensland. Picture: Supplied

“We were in the process of organising getting together for dinner or something as a family on that day, but it never happened.”

Ms Chippendale said her daughter had a love of reading and had a passion for what she was studying.

“Jocey really believed that the next world war would be over water, not over oil or energy, because there’s only a limited quantity of drinking water on Earth, and nothing can survive without water,” she said.

“And so that was, her big passion, water quality and that sort of area of chemical engineering.”

Originally published as Mother says Jocelyn Mollee’s death in Bruce Hwy carnage overshadowed by twins’ video