by Janine Hill

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help the husband of a woman killed in a crash at Burnside.

Stella Tan, 52, died after her Nissan Micra and an allegedly-stolen Mercedes collided on Windsor Road, near the Australia Post centre, on September 15.

A support worker, she had been on her way to see her first client of the day.

Kathleen Ashworth, who runs the Living in Nambour Facebook page, set up the GoFundMe account to help Stella’s devastated husband Bernard Wee.

Bernard described his wife of almost six years as the "true love of my life" and said the deep pain of losing her would remain with him always.

"I'm coping with grief and sorrow as much as I can. Every morning I wake up, I feel overwhelmed with sadness and grief and I cry everyday as I miss Stella so much," he said.

Like Bernard, Stella was hearing impaired but she sometimes wore a cochlear implant and helped him communicate with others.

Bernard said Stella's warmth, friendliness and effortlessness made her special and she had helped him grow in self-confidence and become a better person.

He said Stella had worked as a support worker with Bromilow Community Care for the past two years and loved her job.

"She preferred to work for home care rather than nursing homes where she had to communicate with several people at once as she had more difficulty hearing them," Bernard said.

Bernard said his employer, The Book House, at Noosaville, had offered grocery vouchers and a hamper to help with necessities while he takes time off work to grieve. 

The Nambour Catholic Church, where he and Stella were regulars, has eased much of the burden of organising Stella's funeral, including the ceremony, readings, hymns, prayers, music and food.

"I am very grateful for the communities who want to offer assistance and support to me if I need it," Bernard said.

Within days, the GoFundMe account, www.gofundme.com/f/stella-tan, had reached $4080 with a goal of hitting $22,399 to cover Stella’s funeral costs of $12,399. 

Kathleen wrote that any surplus would be put towards replacing Stella and Bernard’s car, which was a write-off.

“Nothing will bring Stella back, but we can help lighten Bernard's load by reducing his financial stress,” she said.

Izak Kane Sefton-Bennett, 26, has been charged with 12 offences over the events of the morning, including dangerous driving causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance, callous disregard, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, armed robbery, possession of a shortened firearm, and possession of a dangerous drug.

It is alleged he stole the Mercedes while armed at Landsborough just before 2am and was seen driving in a dangerous and erratic manner in the Burnside area prior to the crash.

He allegedly left the scene and while some witnesses went to Stella’s aid, others allegedly followed him to a nearby address where he was arrested by police.

The loss of another innocent life in a crash involving a stolen car provoked outrage from members of the public on social media.

Stella’s death followed a triple fatality on the Bruce Highway at Gympie in July where Rolfe Rafferty, 25, allegedly used a stolen SUV to ram a ute into the path of another. 

Good samaritan Terry Bishop, 65, who had given Rafferty’s partner, Gypsy Satterley, 25, a lift, was killed, as was the driver of the third vehicle, Jessica Townley, 38.

A week after Stella’s death, a 72-year-old woman was killed and her daughter critically injured in a collision with a stolen vehicle at Kippa-Ring, in Brisbane’s north.

Bernard said he would like to see tougher penalties for offenders and sentences served in full. "I would support the law where they couldn't get out of jail until they are 80 years old," he said. 

"They would be too frail to offend again and become less a danger to the society. It would bring more justice and peace to the victims whose lives have been shattered and turned upside down in the same way that the offender has completely turned my whole world upside down."

Calls grow for tougher penalties

Many others took to social media following Stella's death to call for harsher sentences for offenders.

Jocelyn Adrian van Gaalen summed up what many thought:

“It is so sad and hard to comprehend what these idiots get out of stealing people’s hard earned possessions and then causing things like this to happen. 

“… that poor lady’s family and friends and all the emergency services personal that had to attend. No wonder so many of our ESPersonal end up having to have time off work on stress leave which then also takes a toll on their families. 

“These idiots cause just so many more problems that are ongoing to a lot of people who had to attend the accidents that they cause. This should be taken into consideration when they are being sentenced as so many come out too soon and continue to do the same things.

“RIP dear lady and condolences to your family.”

Wrote Martina Rabbanni:  “They get a slap on their wrists NOT good enough, this is occurring too often these days”.

Kim O’Sullivan wrote: “Seriously, it’s about time the law got tougher on people who cause death in this way. Mental health and drugs a cop out”

Carol Frenchman suggested offenders be left in the desert to fend for themselves.

“These mongrels have no idea of the impact they make on peoples’ lives. They are a products of the ME generation.

"I don’t think jail is good enough (for) them. I would take them out bush leave them in a desert without water or food so can taste what it is like to be so close to death.”