00:00 "Best to the inquest! Justice for Jari!"
00:07 After campaigning tirelessly for years, even taking their fight straight to the Attorney-General,
00:14 friends and family of Jari Wise were finally able to attend an inquest into his death after
00:21 it got underway in Hobart this week. The young father died when a car driven by his on-again,
00:28 girlfriend Melissa Oates struck him near Hewanville in February 2020.
00:33 Both Melissa and Jari were subject to family violence orders at the time of his death.
00:39 "Justice for Jari!"
00:42 Ms Oates spent eight months in prison after being convicted of three driving offences,
00:47 but she was not found legally responsible for his death because it could not be ruled out
00:52 that he had jumped in front of her vehicle. Today the inquest heard from Ms Oates describing
00:58 how she had reacted on the night of the fatal incident. She told the court she heard a bang, saying,
01:06 "I didn't know if Jari had thrown something at my car or if it was just an animal. I just panicked."
01:13 The court was shown a photo of the vehicle after Mr Wise had been hit,
01:18 with significant damage to the left-hand side, including a shattered windscreen.
01:23 When asked about it, Ms Oates replied, "I didn't see my car. I didn't want to look at it."
01:29 The inquest was also told to neighbours heard Ms Oates tell a friend shortly after the crash
01:35 that she'd hit him and that he'd damaged her car, but she strongly denied this in court,
01:41 saying she wouldn't have said that because she didn't know what she'd hit.
01:45 Coroner Simon Cooper adjourned the proceedings and will now consider all of the evidence
01:50 before making written findings.
01:52 findings.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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