{"id":337306,"date":"2025-12-09T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337306\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:20:11","slug":"woman-who-fatally-struck-12yo-boy-with-car-outside-tasmanian-high-school-avoids-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337306\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who fatally struck 12yo boy with car outside Tasmanian high school avoids prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a child who was fatally struck by a car outside of his school in southern Tasmania have criticised the sentence handed down to the driver of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Marshall Oakley-Stagg was 12 years old when he died in April 2024.<\/p>\n

In the Magistrate’s Court in Hobart on Tuesday afternoon, Elena Anita Begovic, 51, was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for two years, for negligent driving causing death.<\/p>\n

This means she will not be imprisoned unless she commits another offence within two years.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Elena Anita Begovic pictured outside court. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, Marshall’s mum, Karina Stagg, said this was a “kick in the guts”.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for,” Ms Stagg said.<\/p>\n

“Where is the justice? Where is the justice for Marshall?”\"A<\/p>\n

Karina Stagg, surrounded by supporters, speaks outside court. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Magistrate Robert Webster told the court that Begovic was leaving the Cosgrove High School pick-up with her two kids in her car when she failed to keep a proper lookout or give way to pedestrians, and her car struck Marshall.<\/p>\n

“He was walking on the footpath; he was coming back home from school and lost his life,” Ms Stagg said.<\/p>\n

“She [Begovic] has destroyed our lives, and we will never be the same and that is because of her single action of her not looking.”<\/p>\n

\"Cosgrove<\/p>\n

Tributes for Marshall Oakley in front of Cosgrove High School appeared soon after the tragedy. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n

Family’s pain to ‘endure’, magistrate says<\/p>\n

Begovic pleaded guilty to one count of negligent driving causing death and three counts of contravention of a vehicle standard last month<\/a>, where seven victim impact statements were read aloud to the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While handing down his sentence on Tuesday, Magistrate Webster said he decided to wholly suspend her sentence due to her age, her job as a teacher assistant working with disadvantaged children, her cooperation with authorities and her early guilty plea.<\/p>\n

He said the maximum sentence for negligent driving causing death was two years’ imprisonment.<\/p>\n

He said he did not consider her negligence extreme, due to there being no aggravating factors such as drugs, alcohol or speeding.<\/p>\n

But he said Begovic was familiar with the location and was aware of the high level of foot traffic, as she had collected her children from that pick-up area since 2022.<\/p>\n

He noted the “extreme” pain and suffering Marshall’s family has gone through.<\/p>\n

“[It will] likely be endured for years, if not for life,” Magistrate Webster said.<\/p>\n

As Begovic was leaving the courtroom, one of Marshall’s family members told her, “I hope you rot in hell.”<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Marshall Oakley-Stagg was 12 when he died after being hit by the car. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Begovic was disqualified from driving for 12 months, a conviction was recorded and she was ordered to pay $1,040 in fines and costs.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Webster found that the contraventions of vehicle standards \u2014 including indicator lights, parking lights, and tyre tread \u2014 did not contribute to the incident.<\/p>\n

Ms Stagg said she would keep on fighting for justice for Marshall.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be a change with our law and our justice system to do with crimes with vehicles \u2026 there is no justice for our family,” Ms Stagg said.<\/p>\n

She said she hoped Marshall was remembered as a happy, cheeky, and one-of-a-kind boy.<\/p>\n

\"Cosgrove<\/p>\n

More tributes for Marshall outside the school. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a child who was fatally struck by a car outside of his school in southern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[187793,187795,43,187794,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-337306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-cosgrove-high-school","9":"tag-elena-anita-begovic","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-marshall-oakley-stagg","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}