{"id":724765,"date":"2026-06-09T08:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724765\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:28:20","slug":"family-calls-for-government-to-listen-following-fatal-hit-and-run-of-14-year-old-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724765\/","title":{"rendered":"Family calls for ‘government to listen’ following fatal hit-and-run of 14-year-old boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryson Dimovski was just 14 years old when he was hit and killed by a distracted driver while riding his e-scooter in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Warners Bay in 2023.<\/p>\n

The teenager was thrown over the bonnet of the car, smashed into the windscreen and propelled down an embankment, but his body would not be found for another six hours.<\/p>\n

The driver, Jaycob Gemza, 21, originally pleaded guilty to failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, but not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death.<\/p>\n

Gemza changed his pleas to guilty for all charges in November and was later sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail.<\/p>\n

\"Bryson<\/p>\n

Bryson Dimovski and his mother, Melissa Dimovski taken a month before Mr Dimovski was killed. (Supplied: Melissa Dimovski)<\/p>\n

The Dimovski family has maintained that the sentence was too light, and their calls for change have gone unheard by the courts.<\/p>\n

“This system we put our faith in, never met us where we stand,” Bryson’s father Andrew Dimovski said.<\/p>\n

The Dimovskis have taken matters into their own hands, starting an online petition for tougher penalties for people who flee fatal crashes.<\/p>\n

It has so far amassed more than 20,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

“Bryson was struck and left for dead \u2026 [20,000 people] are now standing with us and demanding change,” Mr Dimovski said.<\/p>\n

Driver was drinking and on phone<\/p>\n

In April, the Newcastle District Court heard Gemza was drinking and using his phone at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

The court heard he stopped only briefly before driving from the scene and concealed his car in the aftermath.<\/p>\n

As Gemza’s sentence was delivered by Judge Paul Marr, the Dimovski family stood outside the court calling for justice.<\/p>\n

“From the beginning, this was treated as some sort of lesser offence, like a traffic matter,” Mr Dimovski said.<\/p>\n

\"Dozens<\/p>\n

Family and friends of Bryson Dimovski attended court for the sentencing of Jaycob Gemza in April 2026.<\/p>\n

The family said the online ePetition will allow their voices to be heard.<\/p>\n

The ‘Reform Laws for Drivers Who Flee Fatal Crash Scenes’ online petition now has enough signatures to be debated in the Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n

It calls for increased penalties for people who flee a fatal crash scene, as well as those who refuse to take a breath test.<\/p>\n

It also proposes removing the option for hit-and-run offenders to serve their sentence in the community rather than jail.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been trying to talk to the government for the last two years and I’ve had no success,” Mr Dimovski said.<\/p>\n

“It’s time for the government to listen.”<\/p>\n

The petition will be tabled in the NSW Parliament by Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper in August.<\/p>\n

Pain remains<\/p>\n

Director of Road Trauma Support Group, Roxanne Arnold, said she knew the pain of losing a loved one all too well.<\/p>\n

Her husband, Steve Arnold, was travelling as a passenger on his way to work when he was hit and killed by a drunk driver in 2020.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Father-of-two Steve Arnold, 41, was killed by a drink driver. (Supplied: Roxxane Arnold.)<\/p>\n

She said campaigns for change, like the Dimovski’s petition, were an effective way to bring about legislative change and spread awareness.<\/p>\n

“Those people who have the ability to make changes can hear these stories, understand the tragedy of what it means to the loved ones left behind,” Ms Arnold said.<\/p>\n

“If you’re in a position to make change, please listen to us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryson Dimovski was just 14 years old when he was hit and killed by a distracted driver while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,288668,48,199566,48240,288667,44,46075,92515,44600,12628],"class_list":["post-724765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bryson-dimovski","tag-crime","tag-e-scooter","tag-hit-and-run","tag-jaycob-gemza","tag-news","tag-reforms","tag-road-trauma","tag-sentence","tag-teenager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724765","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=724765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}