Funds raised to return man's body after crash

A fundraising campaign has been started to pay for the return of the body of a Coventry man who died in Indonesia.

Joseph O'Sullivan, 26, was born in Stoke Heath but had been living in Australia for the last two years until his death in a road crash on Thursday.

Leone Branski, a friend of O'Sullivan's, first met him in 2020 and, along with her partner and two other friends, they went travelling as a group in 2024.

"Because of the time difference, my boyfriend had 22 missed calls from someone we know in Australia, so we had no idea until we woke up, so it was a complete shock," she said.

O'Sullivan had lived in Perth, Western Australia for the last two years and worked as a roofer in the construction industry.

He turned 26 on 15 June and went with friends to Bali, where he had booked himself tattooing sessions.

"Joe was full of tattoos. He had a massive back tattoo done when he was out there. He loved getting tattoos, that's why he was there," Branski said.

"One of them's a big Vegas he had put on his back. If he just saw something he liked, he'd just get it tattooed. He didn't care."

His family and friends are now in the process of trying to get his body back to Coventry for a funeral.

Branski said they were trying to raise £12,000 through a GoFundMe page.

"I've tried not to pry too much with his family at the moment, but when Susan [his cousin] has shared a post, she does say she has paperwork [to prove the cost]," she added.

Branski, who last saw O'Sullivan when they parted ways in January 2025, said losing him did not feel real.

"We've not seen him for such a long time and I don't think it will feel real until we get his body home and we can lay him to rest," she said.

"Otherwise I just think - he's in Perth, he 's just having a good time. It doesn't feel quite real."

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