Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Mum left with two broken legs shielding daughter from crash

By Kristin Edge
Reporter·Northern Advocate·
25 Jan, 2016 08:02 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

St John staff help the driver of a car that ended up inside a shop, trapping a mother and daughter in a cake cabinet. Photo / Michael Cunningham

St John staff help the driver of a car that ended up inside a shop, trapping a mother and daughter in a cake cabinet. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Firefighters extracting a woman entangled in a shattered cake display initially didn't realise there was also a 6-year-old girl trapped after a car slammed into them while standing in a Whangarei shop.

The mother and daughter were at The Cheesecake Shop, in the Tarewa shopping centre, Whangarei, about 11.20am when a yellow Suzuki was driven across the footpath, through the open sliding doors and into the shop.

A 49-year-old woman, who ended up covering her daughter, was treated by St John staff in an ambulance at the scene and was taken to Whangarei Hospital in a serious condition. The impact of the collision is believed to have broken her legs. Her daughter was also taken to hospital in a moderate condition.

The elderly male driver, and only person in the vehicle, was treated inside the shop before being taken to hospital for more tests.

Northland road policing boss Inspector Wayne Ewers said police were to interview the driver of the car to find out why the car had failed to stop.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After a look at the inside of the business Mr Ewers said: "There's cakes, blood and glass everywhere."

He said because of the injuries to the woman, a police serious crash investigator was called to survey the scene.

Whangarei Senior Station Officer Brad Cunningham said as they began to free the woman it was then they realised she was covering a young girl.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"She was entangled in the display case. We cleared a bit of the debris away and found the girl under her," Mr Cunningham said.

The woman could not stand up and firefighters placed her on a stretcher and she was transferred to an ambulance.

"It wasn't a very nice scene when we turned up. It was a terrible shock and the staff are very upset," Mr Cunningham said.

Jenny Gu, who owns the business with her husband Michael Xu,, said she had been changing in the toilet at the back of the shop when she heard a loud bang.

Discover more

Common sense urged

21 Jan 08:30 PM

Crash prompts tyre warning

21 Jan 07:58 PM

Poroti truck crash highlights hapu's safety worries

22 Jan 05:00 PM

Teen survives 20m fall off rocks

25 Jan 09:00 PM

She ran to the display area and saw a car but could see no sign of her 9-year-old son Paul, who had been waiting for her.

"I couldn't see him. I didn't know where he was, I thought maybe he was under the car."

Fortunately he had climbed on to a chair, out of the path of the car.

Ms Gu said it appeared the mother had protected her child by placing her body over her child. The woman had come into collect a cake and was waiting for a staff member to collect it from the fridge at the rear of the shop.

"I think she shielded her and the child is not too injured."

Ms Gu said her husband and a few strong men had pushed the car back off the woman but she was trapped in the glass case.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said she did not like blood so it was very unpleasant.

"I hope she gets well soon. I feel very sorry that this has happened."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

live
Northern Advocate

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge

10 Jul 08:04 PM
Northern Advocate

One dead, two injured in Far North crash

10 Jul 08:01 PM
Northern Advocate

Kaipara museums get first council funding - and a debt wipe for Mangawhai

10 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge
live

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge

10 Jul 08:04 PM

Electrical storms are set to hit at evening rush as Auckland braces for 16 hours of rain.

One dead, two injured in Far North crash

One dead, two injured in Far North crash

10 Jul 08:01 PM
Kaipara museums get first council funding - and a debt wipe for Mangawhai

Kaipara museums get first council funding - and a debt wipe for Mangawhai

10 Jul 05:00 PM
How a sinking pallet raft set one teen on a journey to sailing success

How a sinking pallet raft set one teen on a journey to sailing success

10 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP