Family pain over hit-run

By Sarah Schwager
A CRANBOURNE woman has appealed to drivers to think of the victim’s family and stop and help if they hit someone, after her grandmother died in a hit-run incident last year.
Margaret Stadnik, 27, said there was no excuse for running or trying to cover up.
“If you are panicked, at least turn yourself in a few days later,” she said.
“Who knows how long it took for her to die, before the next person came along.”
Doveton’s Mohammad “Jimmy” Lamha, 20, was sentenced to two and a half years in a youth training centre in the County Court last Thursday over the death of Dandenong woman Stefania Rapa, 83, who was hit as she crossed Clow Street, Dandenong, on 4 May last year.
Lamha was charged with failing to stop, failing to render assistance and perverting the course of justice.
His parents, Mohammad Sharif Lamha, 43, and Karima Lamha, 41, each received a 12-month suspended jail term after they admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Ms Stadnik, who now lives in Cranbourne with her partner Tom Supel and four-year-old daughter Madeleine, said there had been mixed family reactions when the sentences were heard.
“I think a youth detention centre is appropriate. He’s so young,” she said.
Ms Stadnik said her grandmother and the family – she, her mother, sister and brother – had been very close, as Mrs Rapa had lived with them.
“She was such an important part of our lives,” she said. “It’s just so sad that she’s not with us any more.
“If she had died in hospital or of a heart attack, I mean, she was in her eighties. The way she died like that was really awful.”
A Crime Stoppers tip-off led police to the Lamhas on 16 May last year, but the family claimed the car had been sold before Mrs Rapa died, and produced a forged registration transfer form.
Lamha confessed three days later, admitting he had replaced the wheels and windscreen on the car and hid it after fleeing the scene.
Ms Stadnik said when the family was found she had mixed reactions.
“Initially I was relieved that the police had caught someone, then I was really angry that the parents had covered it up.”
Ms Stadnik said her family had come to Australia from Poland at a similar time to the Lamha family and did not see that they had any excuses.
“I can understand (the parents) feeling frightened for him but I don’t see how it helped him.”
She said in the end there were no winners, with Lamha being jailed.
“There’s so much tragedy on both sides.”
Ms Stadnik said she felt relieved that the court hearing was over and she could go on with her life.
“It’s a funny feeling having that side over. It’s very peaceful,” she said. After court (last) Tuesday I felt angry. I thought if he walks off with a suspended sentence it would be so wrong. I was surprised by how angry I felt.
“How would they feel if it was their family member. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.”
Ms Stadnik said when people went for their driver’s licence, there should be some sort of education about what to do in such incidents.
At the same time, local police have made a plea for pedestrians to take extra care when crossing the road after another fatality last week.
A 90-year-old man died on Tuesday, 13 December after receiving head injuries while crossing a busy road in Dandenong. Similarly, a 19-year-old Endeavour Hills man has been questioned about a hit-and-run incident in Endeavour Hills on Thursday, 8 December that left a man, 26, with two broken legs and serious head injuries.