New details of dad's lies to cops after son allegedly crashed Mercedes, killing two

West Australian

5 days ago

It was late on a Friday night when a group of young men — one sporting a cut across his face — urgently knocked on the front door of a southwestern Sydney home, according to court documents.
'It's an emergency,' one of the men declared.
Just a short drive away, an empty Mercedes lay flipped on its side, metres away from a severely damaged and smoking Toyota Echo, the bodies of 24-year-old Alina Kauffman and her teenage brother Ernesto inside, according to court documents.
Johnson Kokozian, 22, allegedly drove the Mercedes nearly 60km/h above the speed limit before colliding head-on with the Toyota Echo in Heckenberg on September 1, 2023, the two siblings dying following the horror crash.
Johnson and his friends allegedly climbed out of the wreckage through the sunroof of the luxury car and showed up at his dad's door, who then proceeded to lie to police and falsely report the Mercedes as stolen.
Among the charges Johnson faces are two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death. He has not yet entered any pleas.
His father, Kagadour Hanna Kokozian, pleaded guilty to hindering an investigation and concealing the offence of another person.
New details revealed in the agreed facts of Kagadour's case describe the events that unfolded in the aftermath of the crash, including the lies the 63-year-old father told police to protect his son.
According to the facts sheet, seen by NewsWire, the Mercedes — which Johnson had only collected earlier that day — reached speeds of up to 109km/h in a 50km/h zone before the collision.
A witness driving a Volkswagen in the area told police the Mercedes got so close to his car at one stage the headlights 'disappeared' from the view of his rear view mirror, the court documents stated.
The Mercedes allegedly accelerated before crossing to the wrong side of the road and crashing head on with the Toyota Echo, killing Ms Kauffman and her younger brother and hitting a parked Rav-4, according to court documents.
Johnson and his friends allegedly climbed out of the Mercedes – now flipped on its side – through the sunroof, screaming at the driver of the Volkswagen to take them to the hospital before instead directing him to the home of Johnson's father, according to court documents.
Knocking on the door and telling Kagadour 'it's an emergency', the father was told the car had been crashed and his son was the alleged driver.
Kagadour asked to be taken to the scene by one of his son's friends, remarking 'it's really bad' upon arriving, court documents reveal.
Kagadour later told police he asked his son what was happening over the phone from the scene of the crash 'because people were saying two people were dead'.
'He asked his son if he was involved but his son closed the phone,' court documents stated.
Kagadour was then driven to the home of his son's fiancee, Tiana Savignano, where Johnson and one of the passengers of the Mercedes, Cruz Davis-Tuka, were also located.
There, Ms Savignano called police and told them she'd been shopping with her father-in-law when his car was stolen, court documents state.
Kagadour also spoke, telling the operator that he had 'heard the noise and they took the car' after he came back from shopping with his son.
'We bought the car today and we went shopping and my son and we come back, I'm a little bit sick, I'm inside and I come out, no car so I don't know what happened. I heard the noise and they took the car,' Kagadour told the operator.
The following afternoon police attended his home for a second time and to raise concerns his son was involved in the fatal crash, to which Kagadour told officers: 'The car was parked here. When I came back it was stolen.'
His son was arrested that afternoon, and Kagadour told police that he wanted to change his statement later that night.
'I'm not saying that, uh, my son innocent or I'm innocent, but I want to make sure everything OK … I don't want to get, uh, involved in, like, you know what I mean. I'm 62 years old, I'm sick …' Kagadour said, according to court documents.
He told police he'd returned home, saw the car's key on the table and thought the Mercedes had been stolen.
Kagadour also said he'd been taken to the scene of the accident, but he didn't know who had been driving the car.
'Somebody took me to see the car accident, but I don't know it was that car in the accident,' Mr Kokozian said.
Kagadour then told police everything he'd said in his original statement was right, but he also wasn't sure if the car was stolen.
Kagadour was arrested days later on September 6 and in a recorded police interview admitted to lying to the triple-0 operator about the car being stolen.
It is not alleged Mr Kokozian was aware of the manner of his son's alleged driving, the documents state.
Mr Kokozian's son, Johnson, faces charges including manslaughter, two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, two counts of aggravated dangerous driving causing death, and one count of negligent driving occasioning death.
He is also accused of failing to stop and assist after the crash, driving while disqualified and exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km.
Ms Savignano and Mr Davis-Tuka were both charged with conceal a serious indictable offence and hinder police in their investigation into the crash.
All three are yet to enter pleas.
Kagadour is expected to be sentenced in October.