Dead girls' mother in dock

Phillippa Morehu. Photo / Supplied

A mother is facing a manslaughter charge over the deaths of her two young girls in a Christmas Day car crash - and she has told the Herald she will "just have to deal with it".

Phillippa Morehu, 36, appeared in the Tauranga District Court at the weekend to face the charge.

Her daughters, Brooklyn and Merepeka Morehu-Clark, aged 13 and 14, died when the car they were in collided with a ute on Welcome Bay Rd, near Tauranga. They were in the back seat of a maroon Honda and were not wearing seatbelts.

The driver of the car, who has name suppression and is in custody, has also been charged with manslaughter.

Last night, speaking publicly for the first time since the crash, Morehu said she hoped any confusion about what happened would be cleared up soon.

"It will all get sorted, yep."

Family and friends had been supporting her and her partner, Wiremu Clark, since their girls' deaths and through the tangi, which attracted hundreds of mourners.

Morehu said police had been all right to her throughout their investigation and since her arrest. She appeared to have accepted the serious charge she is facing and was ready to face whatever happened.

"You just have to deal with it."

Morehu and a 17-year-old youth, Haki Davey, who is believed to be her nephew, were not in the car that crashed.

After the accident, police appealed for sightings of a black Mitsubishi Lancer which witnesses said the Honda was overtaking at speed moments before it crashed.

Morehu, Davey and the man with name suppression are due back in court on Thursday.