Mother, daughter and niece killed in Waiuku crash
Photo:
RNZ/Calvin Samuel
The three people who died in a car crash near Waiuku yesterday were a mother, her daughter and her niece.
RNZ can now name the victims as Frances Latu-Vailea, her daughter Oneahi Vailea and niece Marly Tulua.
They died when their car left Masters Road and crashed into a culvert in wetland on Tuesday afternoon, and the deaths have sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community.
"It's pretty devastating actually. It's a small town, most people know someone who knows them if they don't know them themselves," local Jennie Tapp said.
"The fact that it was a woman and two children, it just blows your mind."
Another resident Inga Anja Noom said Masters Road had a bad reputation.
"We all feel sick because usually in a small town like this everyone knows somebody and it's a horrible stretch of road and it's not the first and it probably won't be the last. But yeah, no, it's heartbreaking."
The scene of the crash, on a road described by locals as "horrible".
Photo:
RNZ/Calvin Samuel
Locals say the narrow, bumpy road will continue causing accidents until speed limits are enforced.
Masters Road falls on the border between Auckland and Waikato and was a concern for both regions' councillors.
Waikato district councillor Peter Thomson said it was often used as a shortcut around the more tightly managed main road between Waiuku and Pukekohe.
"I've heard that it's been used as a bypass to the Waiuku-Pukekohe road, so people can feel that they can travel faster on this road rather than the Pukekohe-Waiuku road, which has got a number of speed cameras on it and is only 80 [kilometres per hour]," he said.
Andy Baker - the councillor for Auckland's Franklin Ward which contained Waiuku - said the road was narrow and bumpy.
"This road is predominantly straight, it runs from both ends, it's basically a straight line but it's very undulating and from what I can see where the crash was, it's in a dip, and there's a lot of trees around."
Noom said it was particularly dangerous in wet weather.
"It's quite narrow, it's windy in the start up to it and then it's just one long stretch with humps in the road and bridges and stuff," she said.
"And with weather like this in wintertime, the creeks are completely full on either side, it's really bad."
But Baker said it was too early to determine if the road was a factor in the fatal crash.
"I think it's a little bit premature maybe to say the road's at fault here or there's an issue with the road," he said.
"I know that some locals have been concerned about some things, whether they were contributing to the crash, we won't know until the Serious Crash Unit do their report and eventually it'll run through a coroner's court."
Noom said Masters Road still needed speed cameras like the main Waiuku-Pukekohe road.
"Well if they're going to do it on one side, they'll probably have to do it the other, and everyone will hate me saying that but this is what's happening," she said.
"We had a crash there two weeks ago, they walked away from that one. We had a death there last year and it won't be the last."
She said the crashes would continue until motorists were given a reason to slow down.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
One dead after two-vehicle crash in Horowhenua
One person died at the Waitohu Valley Road crash site. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi A person has died after a crash in the Horowhenua District earlier Friday. Emergency services were called to the scene of a two-vehicle crash on Waitohu Valley Road in Manakau at about 4.15pm. Police said one person died at the scene. The road is closed while the serious crash unit examines the crash site. Motorists were advised to avoid the area and expect delays. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
One dead following crash on Waitohu Valley Road in Manakau
People had been seriously injured in the crash, police said. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown A person has died after a crash in the Horowhenua District earlier today. Emergency services were called to the scene of a two-vehicle crash on Waitohu Valley Road in Manakau at about 4.15pm. Police say one person had died at the scene. They say the road is closed while the serious crash unit examines the crash site. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and expect delays. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Te Waiariki Grace fatally stabbed Mongrel Mob partner as she tried to protect herself
By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Te Reo Wickliffe-Heta, 24, of Hamilton, was found dead in a Hamilton driveway on 30 December 2023. Photo: Open Justice / NZME Warning: This story discusses graphic details of domestic violence. The mother of a gang member fatally stabbed by his partner during a fight at her house said the knock at the door from police that day will be forever etched in her mind. Te Waiariki Te Uaahiahi Grace stabbed her Mongrel Mob gang member partner , Te Reo Wickliffe-Heta, in the chest during a fight after he turned up to her home in a "highly agitated state" in 2023. He ran off down the street before collapsing and dying. Grace has had name suppression since first appearing in court in January 2024. The 25-year-old was sentenced on a charge of manslaughter in the High Court at Hamilton in December last year, when Justice Grant Powell agreed to extend her suppression for a further six months. That suppression has now lapsed, meaning she can now be named and NZME can reveal what happened at her sentencing for the first time. Wickliffe-Heta's mother, Tina, spoke at Grace's sentencing about the heartbreak she continues to endure without her 24-year-old son. "The day that I woke up to the police officers knocking at my door is a day I will never forget," she told the court. "I knew from the moment I saw them that it was bad news." Being told of his death, she then felt "the most pain I have ever felt in my life". "And now it constantly feels like I lost a piece of my heart to find out the person who took my son was his partner. "I feel so much anger that I don't know what to do with it most days. "He was taken from me ... in an incident that could have been avoided." Despite her son's life choices, she said he was "respected by many and he really loved Te Waiariki". "I feel sad that my son has been made to look like a monster. He's the one who is not here today." At that stage, she said she still couldn't forgive Grace for what she had done. Wickliffe-Heta was celebrating his birthday with friends and family in Hamilton when he died on 29 December 2023. Grace was also there, and the pair began fighting, verbally, before they started pushing each other. She decided to head home and leave and was picked up by relatives. About 20 minutes later, Wickliffe-Heta arrived in a "highly agitated state" and began banging on the back door so loudly she eventually opened it because she was worried he would break a window. Grace messaged a relative on social media to let her know he'd arrived, before he went into the room and dragged her from a table, and onto the ground. As she yelled out for help, Wickliffe-Heta repeatedly hit her, and Grace hit him back. Te Reo Wickliffe-Heta, 24, of Hamilton, was found dead in a Hamilton driveway on 30 December 2023. Photo: Open Justice / NZME Wickliffe-Heta hit her with a metal chair, then got on top of her and started strangling her, but she was able to squeeze his testicles and get away. As Grace's relatives headed to her house, telling her to "keep him there" and "I am coming", she ran outside, but he grabbed her by the leg to stop her, then pulled her hair and dragged her to the front doorstep. She managed to break free and went into the house, and armed herself with two large kitchen knives. The pair began yelling at each other, and Wickliffe-Heta moved closer as Grace turned and went inside. He grabbed her by the shoulder, and during the scuffle that followed, she stabbed Wickliffe-Heta once, in an upward motion, with one of the knives piercing his chest, slicing his heart and liver, causing massive internal bleeding. Wickliffe-Heta ran outside to the letterbox, and Grace followed him, still holding the knives as the argument continued. He then walked away, crossing the road, just as the woman's relatives turned up and all three chased after him. Wickliffe-Heta went down a driveway and over a fence before falling and becoming unconscious. Grace and her relatives went back to her house, and the knives were placed under the front passenger seat of their car. They left but were stopped by police, and the knives, one of which had blood on it, were found. Wickliffe-Heta was later found by a member of the public, having died sometime earlier. Officers dealing with Grace that evening and the following day noticed she had bruising to her face and was uncomfortable while walking. Crown solicitor Jacinda Hamilton acknowledged that it was Wickliffe-Heta who went to Grace's home and became violent that night; however, she had been able to remove herself twice before fatally stabbing him. "She had the opportunity to close the door, and she didn't take it." Justice Powell said complicating the sentencing was the brain injury Grace suffered in a car crash two months before the incident and the effect that had on her normal responses. Hamilton didn't take issue with an expert report prepared about that, but reiterated the "devastating loss" his whānau had suffered. His whānau had not felt any remorse from Grace, she said. Grace's counsel, Gerard Walsh, said "words can seem very empty" at times, but reiterated that her remorse was genuine. Walsh said the situation that night wasn't one where Grace had many choices. "He kept coming," he said. "Miss Grace was being beaten that night, and I don't put it any other way." The stabbing was self-defence, with Wickliffe-Heta showing persistent aggression in a scuffle that he initiated. In pushing for a home detention sentence, he said Grace had no criminal history and qualified for a discount for youth, her guilty plea, 10 months on electronically-monitored bail, and various reports. Justice Powell explained how the pair met when they were both 14. "There's no doubt that your relationship was volatile, and arguments and physical assaults were not unusual, particularly when drinking," he said. The toxicity was also apparent to whānau of the pair, with Grace's father having tried to get her to move to Whakatāne. The violence began in the second year of their relationship, and it increased in their final three years together. At the time of his death, Wickliffe-Heta was on bail on a charge of attempting to strangle her. The judge accepted that for much of the night, Wickliffe-Heta was the aggressor, and Grace tried to protect herself. As for her crash injuries, she had left the hospital under pressure from Wickliffe-Heta before getting any treatment and hadn't received any ongoing treatment for her injuries. "I accept from the doctor that you would not only have received heightened pain when assaulted but also a heightened sense of vulnerability." Grace was assessed as being at a low risk of reoffending and harm to others, so he agreed to commute the 20-month jail term to 10 months' home detention. If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
