Unable to speak English, Jane Susen often did not understand what was going on while her son was in a coma in a Gold Coast hospital.
Nevertheless, she remained at his side for 10 days, “waiting for the slightest sign.”
She had flown in from Brazil after Ivan Patricio Socin was punched outside a Surfers Paradise kebab shop by Ricky Kevin Leveaux in October 2019.
Her 29-year-old son had fallen and sustained head injuries after being hit when a fight broke out over stolen hot chips.
The family could only afford one plane ticket, so Ms. Soosin took her first international flight after being notified of the aggravated assault.
Evan Patricio Socin was punched outside the Surfers Paradise kebab shop by Ricky Kevin Leveaux in October 2019
When Mrs. Sosen arrived, she hoped she would “find my son smiling.”
“I found my son unconscious, connected to multiple medical devices…and in a coma,” she said in a victim impact statement.
She stayed up at the bedside but eventually her son was declared brain dead.
Ms. Susin had to watch as hospital staff turned off his life support.
“Can you imagine what that means to a mother?” She said.
Three years after losing her daughter in a car accident, Ms. Soosin helped organize a Gold Coast wake-up party for her son that her husband had to watch online.
By then, her daughter, Josiane, was at her side.
She had organized a flight from Brazil after being told her brother “might not survive”.
“The night before my flight I received the news of my brother’s brain death – from that moment my journey with pain began,” she said in a statement.
Mr Suzyn and Jozen’s parents watched on Tuesday via video link Leveaux, 32, was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter at Brisbane High Court.
On Tuesday, Suzyn and Jozyne’s parents watched via video link that Leveaux, 32, was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter in Brisbane High Court.
Lefoe showed little emotion as the family’s statements were read in court.
They go over how to deal with losing Mr. Suzyn to the embarrassment of being stopped at the airport x-rayed with his ashes in his mother’s bag on the journey home.
“We have had our son’s life torn apart by this man who … does not even have the decency to put up with his actions – he has taken everything from us,” said Ms. Soosin.
The fatal blow was dealt during an altercation that began when Levu’s drunken friend, Shawn Simpson, grabbed hot potatoes that Suzen’s group were eating near the kebab shop.
The court heard that Leveaux left the scene but returned later, making no attempt to assist those assisting an unconscious Mr. Sosin who was on work leave.
Leveaux also showed no remorse upon his arrest.
“He tried to hit my companion, but I put him to sleep,” Leveau told the police.
The fatal blow was dealt during an altercation that began when Levu’s drunken friend, Shawn Simpson, grabbed the hot fries that Suzen’s group (pictured) were eating near the kebab shop.
At Leveaux’s High Court trial in February, the jury was repeatedly shown television footage of the attack and it took just two hours to convict him.
After viewing the footage, Josiane Socin called Leveaux’s actions “cowardly”.
“This person has absolutely no honor,” she said.
The court heard Lefoe had a series of convictions in New South Wales after his brother was killed in a 2011 gang attack.
Leveaux was also sentenced in 2022 to one count of assault while on bail for manslaughter.
The court heard he was held in remand from December 2020 to November 2021 on other charges not yet proceeding in NSW.
Chief Justice Helen Pauskill said Mr Simpson had acted like an aggressive fool and put up a fight but Leveaux’s decision had tragic circumstances.
“There is no place for reckless violence in our civilized society,” she said.
Lefoe will be eligible for parole in 2027.
