Huge twist after German backpacker Jennifer Kohl was crushed to death by mower after having sex with her boyfriend Paul Tunik on a Tamborine Mountain farm

The boyfriend of a German backpacker who was crushed by a ride-on mower may have committed a crime at the time of her death, a coroner has found.

Jennifer Kohl, 27, arrived in Australia in February 2017 on a working holiday with her 27-year-old partner Paul Tunik. They had started work on an avocado farm at Tamborine Mountain, about 20km north-west of the Gold Coast, when she died in a freak accident. 

A coronial inquest last month found that Ms Kohl had sex with Mr Tunik in remote bush on the farm that day. She then hopped onto a ride-on mower with her partner when the vehicle overturned on a slope, killing her. 

Coroner Carol Lee found she had a ‘reasonable suspicion that an indictable offence had been committed by Mr Tunik’ when Ms Kohl died. 

Ms Kohl’s mother Cornelia had flown from Europe to attend the inquest and delivered a blistering message to her daughter’s boyfriend when the findings were released.

In her findings, the coroner ruled that Ms Kohl and Mr Tunik had finished their work for the day when they went to an unused and out-of-sight area of the property to have sex.

Mr Tunik then coaxed Ms Kohl to ride back with him on the four-by-four ride-on mower that had a trailer attached to it as part of a ‘romantic gesture’.

Mr Tunik was driving the mower with Ms Kohl on the wheel arch when they went down a steep slope and rolled.

Ms Kohl was trapped under the mower and despite Mr Tunik’s efforts to remove the heavy piece of industrial equipment and call for help, she was unable to be saved.

A two-day inquest into Ms Kohl’s death was held in May last year, with Coroner Lee handing down her findings in December.

‘I have formed a reasonable suspicion that an indictable offence has been committed by Mr Tunik,’ she said.

‘Not having received a submission from Mr Tunik after affording him an opportunity to make a submission, I make a referral to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.’

Mr Tunik did not provide evidence at the inquest.

‘Consequently, I find that Mr Tunik and Ms Kohl had completed the work that had been assigned to them on the day of the accident and had engaged in sexual intercourse in a disused and out of sight part of the property, on a joyride pretending the property was theirs,’ Coroner Lee said.

‘Such activity on the mower was unauthorised and in departure from the instructions given to them.’

At the time of the incident, there was a delay in emergency services arriving at the scene in part due to Mr Tunik’s limited English when he rang Triple Zero.

Mr Tunik flagged down passing cars but even with the help of three bystanders Ms Kohl could not be freed.

Ms Kohl’s mother Cornelia is seen arriving for the inquest into her daughter’s death in Queensland in May last year

A coronial inquest last month found that Ms Kohl had sex with Mr Tunik in remote bush on the farm that day. She then hopped onto a ride-on mower with her partner when the vehicle overturned on a slope, killing her (stock image of the mower)

Paramedics arrived and extracted Ms Kohl but she could not be revived. An autopsy later showed Ms Kohl died from traumatic asphyxia.

Coroner Lee found the farm’s co-owners, Kathryn Singleton and Kenneth Jacobi, had provided sufficient instruction and supervision to the two adults for using the mower and trailer in designated areas.

The farm owners had said that Mr Tunik had told them he ‘coaxed’ his girlfriend into sitting on the mower with him, despite her telling him she did not want to.

Ms Kohl’s mother Cornelia travelled from Germany to Queensland for the inquest.

She shared a stern message at the time the findings were delivered to her daughter’s boyfriend, which has previously been unreported. 

‘Should YOU (Paul Tunik) ever travel to Australia again, dress warmly!!! The police are waiting and will be happy to receive you!’ she wrote on Facebook on December 1.

In her findings, Ms Lee recommended the Department of Home Affairs set up a ‘one stop shop’ website for holiday workers to advise them of workplace health and safety as well as their statutory rights in Australia.

The coroner expressed her sincere condolences to Ms Kohl’s family over the tragic accident.

‘Her death has had an impact on many people, in particular her mother who travelled from Germany for the inquest,’ she said.