Who was Ivona Jovanovic? Six years after her death, coroner rules death 'accidental'

Ivona Jovanovic's death, who was a social media influencer based in Australia, has been ruled as accidental by the coroner, six years after her passing in 2019. According to the Daily Mail, Jovanovic was shot by her then boyfriend, Christos Panagakos, who has now been revealed to have accidentally shot her after he tripped, which led to the handgun in his bag going off and shooting Jovanovic in the chest.

In the past six years, it was not known how exactly Ivona Jovanovic's death took place, as, according to People Magazine, Panagakos initially fled the scene following the shooting, and allegedly, the weapon was never recovered. Jovamovic was taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital, where she was declared dead from her injuries two hours later.

More about Ivona Jovanovic, as former social media star's death is ruled as accidental

According to People Magazine, on 8 September 2019, Ivona Jovanovic was visiting her boyfriend's family home along with some friends, and the entire group was getting ready to leave to go have dinner outside. According to the testimony provided by Christos Panagakos' mother, she suddenly heard loud noises that resembled a gun going off, and when she went to investigate, she found the social media personality bleeding and barely conscious in the kitchen.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, coroner Don Mckenzie revealed in a statement on Thursday that the result of the inquiry into the death of Ivona Jovanovic had concluded that she was unintentionally killed by her boyfriend, before further adding that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him for criminal negligence. He said,

"Ms Ivona Jovanovic was killed by Mr. Christos Panagakos when a handgun discharged from inside a bag he was carrying when he tripped on a staircase facing her. In terms of the Criminal Code, his criminal negligence could not be established to warrant a prosecution for involuntary manslaughter. Considering the evidence... I cannot make any meaningful recommendations."

He also mentioned that the earlier claims that the gun was brought to the house by the victim were false, adding that further investigation into the exact cause of the incident should be investigated if new evidence was brought to light. He said,

"This is [the] most cogent and reliable body of evidence heard in the inquest. One can understand her motive in trying to protect her son. However, her attempt initially to suggest that [Ms Jovanovic] herself, brought the handgun … and her placing her son, Christos at the bottom of the staircase at the time of the firearm discharge, was, in my view, reprehensible.

He further added:

"In terms of the Criminal Code, his criminal negligence could not be established to warrant a prosecution for involuntary manslaughter. Considering the evidence ... I cannot make any meaningful recommendations."

Christos Panagakos, who previously worked as a bodybuilder, was initially actually charged with manslaughter in connection with Ivona Jovanovic's death two years after the incident. The charges, however, were later dropped as there was insufficient evidence.

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