Inquest focuses on police actions after Canberra father killed by speeding driver during car chase

The actions of police will be scrutinised during the inquest into the death of a much-loved Canberra father, who died from a head-on crash after police started chasing a speeding driver south of the ACT.

Marc Anthony Jessop was trying to flee police when he drove a stolen Holden Commodore head-on into Harri Jokinen’s van at about 188 km/h on the Monaro Highway on 30 December 2021.

Mr Jokinen, aged 56, died at the scene.

Jessop pleaded guilty to manslaughter over his death, and the then-49-year-old was sentenced to more than 10 years in jail in 2023.

The inquest into Mr Jokinen’s death then began at the Queanbeyan Courthouse on Monday (7 April).

Counsel assisting Andrew Wong said that at 10:27 am on 30 December 2021, a police officer saw Jessop driving the Commodore at about 157 km/h on the Monaro Highway.

The officer turned on their car’s lights and sirens, then began chasing Jessop when he failed to stop.

A dash-cam video from the officer’s car showed they travelled at over 220 km/h in an attempt to catch up to him, but this pursuit was ended when the chase was deemed to be too dangerous to the public.

Jessop had been crossing over onto the wrong side of the road and was driving at over 180 km/h.

Then, at 10:29 am, two police officers discussed laying down a tyre deflation device to stop the Commodore and sought permission from their superiors to do so.

Mr Wong said a superior gave this permission, but it appeared that the parameters for this permission weren’t conveyed to the officers on the scene.

An officer said he was setting up the tyre deflation device at Deep Creek in Williamsdale, south of the ACT border, at around 10:46 am before another officer spotted Jessop in the Commodore again a couple of minutes later and started chasing it.

This second chase lasted for one minute and 16 seconds, during which police said Jessop had been speeding at over 175 km/h. They filmed him via a dash-cam overtaking cars and crossing over double lanes.

The police officer chasing him reached 202 km/h in an effort to catch up.

Mr Wong said the first officer didn’t have time to set up the tyre deflation device before the Commodore approached the location at Deep Creek, while Jessop said in order to evade the police car that was following him, he tried to overtake cars by crossing onto the wrong side of the road.

He side-swiped two cars before crashing head-on into Mr Jokinen’s van near Deep Creek. Dash-cam footage from the pursuing police officer’s car, shown to the inquest, captured the crash before the officer arrived seconds later to find debris strewn across the highway.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, Mr Jokinen was declared deceased at the scene.

Jessop, who didn’t appear to be injured, was arrested and tested positive to having alcohol and methamphetamine in his system, Mr Wong said.

Mr Wong noted several questions for the inquest to consider but said an important one was whether it was appropriate to initiate the second pursuit.

He said the first pursuit was terminated as Jessop had been speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road, and he then caused the crash when he was also speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road.

“It is arguable that the pursuit posed a danger to public safety,” Mr Wong said.

However, he did note the questions in the inquest were being asked with “the benefit of hindsight”.

Mr Wong said Mr Jokinen lived “a rich and full life”, “was loved intensely” and “dedicated himself to his family”.

He was born in Finland, moved to Canberra with his parents when he was still a child and remained closely connected with the Finnish community in Australia,

He worked with his father as a bricklayer, became an electrician, and went on to work in information and communication technology while he also volunteered his time building mountain biking courses.

The hearings for the inquest are expected to last all week before Magistrate Rebecca Hosking.

Mr Jokinen’s family were present in the courtroom on Monday or were watching remotely via video link.