Car crashes into Urbano Bistro: How Rotorua mum Sian Habgood survived

Sian Habgood was out for dinner with her husband, Jethro, at Rotorua’s Urbano Bistro when a car smashed through the restaurant’s window from Fenton St. The car hit the mother of three on her back as she tried to run across the restaurant to safety. Senior journalist Kelly Makiha catches up with Sian as she returns home after a week in hospital and embarks on a long road to recover from her injuries.

Sian Habgood looked down at her broken and bleeding body as she lay on the restaurant floor and said to her husband Jethro: “What the f***?”.

Moments earlier, the couple had been enjoying a Friday night dinner at Rotorua’s Urbano Bistro when a car smashed through the window and shunted her across the restaurant.

Sian said they had just finished some garlic bread and were waiting for their mains when they heard a bang.

The car that crashed through Urbano Bistro.

She looked up, saw a car coming straight towards her, stood, turned and ran for her life.

The car hit Sian’s back, throwing her across the room.

“I just remember hurting everywhere,” Sian told the Rotorua Daily Post from her home.

“It just happened so fast. I remember tumbling and [thinking] ‘this is going on forever’. Just waiting for it to stop.”

She landed about 7m across the other side of the restaurant.

Jethro, who had been shoved in the other direction on to his back by the impact, got up and ran to his wife.

“There was a car in the wall and I thought ‘oh s*** she’s in it’ but I ran over and [Sian] was next to it.”

Jethro said there was glass everywhere and a piece of an aluminium door wrapped around his wife.

“I took my top off and let [her] lie down on that … I thought she was shattered from the legs down, her shoes were all bent off, her feet were all in weird angles and stuff.”

But Jethro said it was an immediate relief to see his wife awake.

Sian Habgood was thrown 7m across Urbano Bistro's floor when a car smashed through the restaurant's window. Sian is pictured with her husband Jethro Habgood. Photo / Andrew Warner

“She was on all fours and was crying out about her hips, saying they were broken. I was talking her through saying ‘you’re breathing, you’re fine’. I was just sitting at her feet making sure she was conscious and breathing.”

The couple praised everyone who helped, including a nurse and midwife living nearby who heard the commotion and rushed to the restaurant.

Sian said the restaurant staff, the small number of fellow diners and emergency services were “incredible” in making her feel as comfortable as possible.

Sian said she believed her split-second decision to stand and turn saved her life – and she had the “souvenir” to prove it.

Her jacket, which had been on the back of her seat, ended up wedged between the engine and the bonnet of the smashed car.

‘You have to be positive’

Sian is now on heavy pain medication as she embarks on several weeks of recovery to heal from a gash to her head, a broken pelvis, lacerated spleen, a broken knee, a broken finger and torn ankle ligaments.

Her legs and back are also covered in deep bruises and she was “peppered” in cuts from broken glass being wedged all over her body.

Sian works part time for Mountain Bike Rotorua and in her spare time makes children’s clothing for her side business, called Riri’s Room. Jethro manages Taupō's Plumbing World and together they have two sons aged 11 and 6 and a daughter aged 5.

Their 6-year-old son has high-needs autism and requires hands-on care when he’s not at school, where he has a full-time carer.

Sian Habgood is beginning her recovery after suffering a gash to her head, a broken pelvis, lacerated spleen, a broken knee, a broken finger and torn ankle ligaments. Photo / Andrew Warner

Jethro estimated he would not be back at work for about six weeks and would need to care for their son during the upcoming school holidays.

A Givealittle page has been created to help the family with the going costs of being away from work.

Jethro said raising an autistic son, they had learnt to take life’s bumps as they came.

“You can’t have expectations because you don’t know … It is what it is.”

Despite Sian’s pain and difficulty moving, she was still smiling and a whiteboard message in the family’s kitchen reflected that positivity: “You’re amazing. Today is a good day.”

“You have to be positive otherwise you’ll get stuck in a rut,” she told the Rotorua Daily Post.

Couple will return to restaurant

Richard Sewell, who opened Urbano Bistro in 2006 and still owned the building despite selling the restaurant last year, told the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday renovations had started and it was hoped to reopen in mid-April.

The couple were out for dinner to use a voucher gifted by their real estate agent when they bought their house.

Jethro had been at Urbano Bistro two nights previously for his work function and loved it so much, he wanted to take his wife there.

Sian and Jethro are determined to go back to Urbano Bistro when it reopens to help physiologically heal as well.

The night a car crashed through Urbano Bistro on March 15. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sian said it would take her a while before she trusted being around cars, saying she had “a little shake” when one pulled into the park next to their vehicle on the way home from hospital.

They had not heard anything from the driver of the crashed car or his passenger but hoped they were okay.

Police initially told the Rotorua Daily Post it appeared the crash was a result of a driver suffering a medical event. They later confirmed the investigation into the cause of the crash was ongoing and no one had been charged.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.

Correction

This story has been amended to confirm no one had been charged.