Arabic version: سجن سائقة بسبب حادث مميت على طريق هيوم السريع

According to ABC News, Samara Sabra, 19, has been sentenced to eight years and two months in prison over a 2025 head-on crash near Wodonga that killed 16-year-old Molly Hopkins. Sabra pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and causing injury recklessly in the County Court of Victoria sitting in Wodonga.

Sabra must serve a minimum of four years, with 367 days already served. The court heard she was driving a stolen Nissan X-Trail on the Hume Freeway at about 12:52am on October 3, 2025, when it collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle. Hopkins, of Wodonga, was in the front passenger seat and died at the scene. The 23-year-old driver of the other car suffered multiple non-life-threatening injuries.

Judge Krista Breckweg said the Nissan had travelled between 145 and 170 kilometres per hour about a minute before the crash. Police had first seen the vehicle at about 12:24am, when a man was driving, Sabra was in the front passenger seat and Hopkins was in the back. After the man left, Sabra took the wheel and Hopkins moved to the front seat. The collision occurred while the Nissan was on the wrong side of the freeway.

The judge described Sabra’s driving as grossly negligent and said it had endangered other road users. Sabra, who held a learner’s permit at the time, was found trapped in the driver’s seat after the crash and was flown to the Alfred Hospital with serious injuries, including broken legs. The court heard no drugs or alcohol were detected.

Victim impact statements described the lasting grief of Hopkins’s family. Judge Breckweg said Hopkins was a much-loved daughter, cousin, goddaughter and friend. While giving full weight to Sabra’s age, early guilty pleas and remorse, the judge said her moral culpability was very high and noted she had been on bail for motor vehicle theft at the time of the crash.