Markets 
Rex Martinich
The families of three tourists killed in a helicopter collision have given emotional statements about their loss and ongoing struggles, leaving a coroner visibly affected.
Sea World Helicopters pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40, and three passengers were killed when his aircraft struck another chopper during a joy flight near the Gold Coast theme park on January 2, 2023.
The adult children of the British newlyweds Ronald and Diane Hughes, aged 65 and 57, were the first to give their family statements at Brisbane Coroners Court on Friday following several weeks of hearings spread over 15 months.
Ronald’s daughter Jane Manns said not a day went by that she was not reminded of her father.
“We miss him beyond measure every day,” she said.
The couple were on their first holiday since the COVID-19 lockdowns, with Ronald meeting one of his grandchildren in-person for the first time five days before the crash.
“He made the most of every moment, letting her paint his nails, put makeup on him and playing endless games with all his grandchildren,” Manns said.
Ronald’s son Phil’s voice broke with emotion as he described his father’s absence at his upcoming wedding.
“I always imagined him as my best man: standing by my side, to tell him I loved him, and to know he was so proud of the man I’d become,” he said.
“More than anything, I wish I could get one last hug from him before walking down the aisle.
“That moment has been taken away from me.”
Sydney father Simon Tadros, whose wife Vanessa died in the crash and son Nicholas was critically injured, said he would not wish his family’s ongoing daily grief and trauma on his worst enemy.
“Getting closure will be impossible for us, because Vanessa is not with us and I have to see my son living with the consequences of this fatal day,” Mr Tadros said.
Nicholas, who has attended the inquest day in, day out with his father, still faced health problems and further surgeries after the crash left the then-10-year-old on life support and needing a leg amputated, Ms Lee was told.
Mr Tadros recalled the first time he met Vanessa in a cafe.
“Once I got to know her, I knew I wanted to be with her forever,” he said.
Sea World Helicopters barrister Michael Trim also provided a statement passing on “very sincere sympathies” to the families for the loss of their loved ones in the “terrible accident”.
The coroner has heard several weeks of evidence spread over three main sets of hearing days starting from April 2025.
Passenger Winnie De Silva, a tourist from Victoria, relived how she initially thought she heard the helicopter striking a bird before it plunged 40 metres onto a sandbar.
“There was hot machinery on my body. I was screaming and screaming,” she testified.
Police recalled a scene of “absolute chaos” as they rushed to locate survivors in the “mangled wreck”.
The pilot killed in the crash, Ashley Jenkinson, later tested positive for the remnants of cocaine, the coroner heard.
Witnesses testified seeing him snorting multiple lines of the drug following a New Year’s Eve party in the days before the crash.
Victoria’s chief forensic toxicologist Dimitri Gerostamoulos, who gave evidence at mushroom murderer Erin Patterson’s trial, testified that Mr Jenkinson was likely impaired by the after-effects of cocaine, alcohol and little sleep.
Sea World Helicopters chief executive Brett Newman strenuously denied any knowledge of Mr Jenkinson having any interest in recreational drugs.
The company had doubled its number of flights for the holiday busy season in what, the coroner heard, was “one of the busiest air corridors in the country”.
Sea World owner Village Roadshow Theme Parks sold its joy flights operation in 2019 to Sea World Helicopters, which recently dumped the Sea World name.
Both the Hughes and Tadros families thanked the coroner and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau for their work investigating the crash and hoped it would prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
The inquest will spend the next several months receiving written submissions from the parties involved.
AAP
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