KEY POINTS:
A man killed in one of two double fatalities on New Zealand's roads this weekend was awaiting trial on a charge of murdering a 22-month-old toddler.
Putaruru man Whiti Te Rau (Rikki) Hopa, 31, who was also known as Rikki Hotham, was driving a Holden overtaking a light
truck when he collided head-on with an SUV on State Highway 1 near Tokoroa about 1.30pm on Saturday.
Hopa and Angela Wolley, the 32-year-old Mt Eden woman driving the SUV, died at the scene of the crash.
Hopa was awaiting trial for killing South Waikato toddler Tyla-Maree Flynn in June last year. The toddler died in hospital suffering from severe scalding from hot water which caused burns to her head and upper body.
Hopa, who was the partner of Tyla-Maree's mother Lisa Barron, had denied the murder charge, a further charge of failing to get medical attention for Tyla-Maree, and three charges of assaulting her by burning her.
Speaking from his Putaruru home last night, Hopa's grandfather Malcolm Hopa told the Herald his family were in mourning.
"They're just bringing him home at the moment," he said.
"As you can very well understand everybody's very upset about it."
In July last year, Mr Hopa told the Herald his grandson was innocent.
He said Tyla-Maree's death was an accident caused when her 8-year-old brother turned on the shower.
He said his grandson had not taken her for help earlier because he had not thought she was badly injured and he did not have a functioning car.
The crash that killed Hopa followed another accident on Saturday which also claimed the lives of two people.
In Canterbury, the bodies of two 17-year-old boys were found at the scene of an overturned vehicle at Waikuku, 9km east of Rangiora.
They were Jamie Alex O'Reilly and Anthony Charles Jenkins.
Detective Sergeant Rex Barnett, of Rangiora police, said a fisherman discovered the body of one youth at 6am inside the vehicle on a river track near Geisha Rd, which runs along the bank of the Ashley River.
Police found the second youth's body nearby.
It appeared the vehicle, which had been modified by having its roof cut off, had hit a small bank and overturned, Mr Barnett said.
Police wanted to speak to anyone who knew anything about the movements of the vehicle.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA