Mother who was on the phone to her daughter when she was killed in crash caused by drugged-up teen who was driving while on his phone relives the moment that broke her heart
- Stephanie Shoben-Franklin, 24, was killed in a Darwin car crash in October 2020
- A male driver, 17, changing music on his phone, veered into her oncoming car
- Her mother Sachiko was speaking to her on Bluetooth and heard the horror crash
- She said she is haunted daily by the sound of the smash and her daughter’s fear
- The driver was sentenced to three years jail, suspended after seven months
A mother who was on the phone to her daughter when she was killed by a drugged-up teen driver is haunted by the sound of the horrific crash.
Stephanie Shoben-Franklin, 24, died on October 17 last year when a 17-year-old driver who was high on cannabis veered into her lane at Knuckey Lagoon, in Darwin’s outer suburbs.
The boy, who cannot be identified because he was a minor at the time of the crash, was changing the music on his iPhone when his vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic at 80km/h.
Stephanie Shoben-Franklin, 24, was killed in a horror crash in Darwin’s outer suburbs in October last year
He had taken his eyes off the road for less than five seconds.
Stephanie’s mother Sachiko Shoben will never forget the anguish her daughter experienced in the moments before her deaths.
She had been speaking to her via Bluetooth hands free when she heard the driver plough into Stephanie’s Mitsubishi Mirage.
‘I have flashbacks. I can see the accident happening. I can see the look of fear on Stephanie’s face,’ she told 9News.
‘And I feel the fear that she would have felt right before [the driver] crashed into her. I feel the pain. I relive hearing that crash daily.’
The teenager, who was just ten days from turning 18, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Tuesday to three months in prison, to be suspended after seven months. He has also been disqualified from driving for three years.
A teenager driver who was under the influence of cannabis veered into her Mitsubishi Mirage (pictured) at 80km/h
It is a punishment her heartbroken family find hard to justify when they will have to spend the rest of their lives without their daughter.
Speaking outside court, Mr Franklin said the Northern Territory justice system should be ‘ashamed’ of the lenient sentence.
He described his daughter as ‘the greatest human’ who was ‘fierce’ and fought for people who could not fight for themselves, through movements such as equality and women’s rights.
He said it took 4.1 seconds for Stephanie to be taken away from them, and urged other drivers to be vigilant on the road.
‘Our message to Territorians is that catastrophic outcomes can occur within seconds. Next time you go to pick up your phone, drink or do drugs and drive, think of our daughter, Stephanie Shoben-Franklin.’
Stephanie’s mother Sachiko Shoben (pictured together) relives daily the sound of the horror crash and her daughter’s final moments
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