Nekera Eileen Low death: Tributes remember ‘loving’, ‘kind-hearted’ teen killed in Christchurch car crash

A Christchurch teenager killed in a late-night crash three weeks ago has been remembered as a loving, kind-hearted person who overcame many obstacles in life.

Four young people were involved in the crash on Greywacke Rd, Harewood on July 31. The driver was killed and two of the passengers were critically injured.

Yesterday, police confirmed the driver who died was 17-year-old Nekera Eileen Low.

When news reached social media of Low’s death, friends of the Christchurch teenager took to platforms to share their memories.

On Sunday, police confirmed the driver who died was 17-year-old Nekera Eileen Low.

In one online tribute, a friend stated Low impacted “many lives” around her and helped so many without realising it.

“I’m so proud of how far you came in life,” the friend wrote online.

“Even with all the obstacles you had to face you still pulled through and managed to put a smile on people’s faces [because] that’s who you were.”

The friend said Low would brighten up any room she walked into, she mentioned many “late-night conversations about random stuff”.

Another said in an online tribute Low was taken “way before her time”.

“I will remember you [and] cherish the endless childhood and recent memories for a lifetime,” she said.

“I can’t believe this happened to you, you had so much ahead of you.”

Low was killed in the crash on Greywacke Rd, Harewood on July 31. Photo / George Heard

Low was driving through Christchurch in the early hours of July 31 with 16-year-old, Gypsy-Rose Walker in the passenger seat and two others in the backseat.

Gypsy-Rose’s mother, Charlene Harkness, earlier told the Herald she and her husband were woken at 2am by teens banging on their door, telling them their daughter had been in a crash.

Harkness was told by the youths who alerted her that the car her daughter was in had travelled with another car to pick a person up from their house.

Gypsy-Rose Walker, aged 16, was in the passenger seat of the car when the crash occurred. She was critically injured.

When those in the second car realised Gypsy-Rose’s vehicle hadn’t made it, they circled back to find the car on the side of Greywacke Rd in Harewood, having hit a power pole.

Harkness said an app tracking her daughter’s movements showed she was travelling incredibly fast around a corner.

Her daughter was hospitalised with critical head injuries and placed on life support for over a week, while a woman in the backseat also sustained critical injuries that required intensive care.

A fourth person, a teenage boy walked away relatively unscathed.