Death-crash driver's dad speaks out

Frances Stubbs, 20, with her parents, Peter and Sandy Stubbs. Photo / Supplied

A young woman who allegedly killed a grandmother after speeding from a police checkpoint had drunk about four vodka energy drinks over two hours, her father said yesterday.

Frances Stubbs, 20, had a "brain explosion" after she was pulled over by police in Blenheim, said her father, local lawyer Peter Stubbs.

"We're hugely sorry about the whole event and the massive impact it's going to have on the family. It's hugely depressing and sad all round for them and for us, and we're just so sorry that they've lost their loved one.

"The whole crash investigation is going to go on for weeks and weeks, we've been told, so for us at the moment it's a bit of a daily nightmare without any end in sight.

"Whatever happens, whatever the result is, she's got a lifetime of thinking about this. It's like a life sentence."

Mr Stubbs said his daughter had been drinking "Vaults" - which have a 7 per cent alcohol content - and was waiting to be picked up by a friend to attend a party at the Grovetown Hotel, about 5km north of the town, on Friday.

But the ride fell through, and Mr Stubbs said his daughter instead left in her parents' Toyota, about 9.40pm.

He and his wife Sandy were home at the time, but did not realise their daughter was driving herself to the venue until she had left.

About five minutes later, Mr Stubbs received a call from an ambulance officer saying his daughter was being taken to Wairau Hospital - where her mother is a surgical nurse - with minor chest injuries after an accident.

The former Marlborough Girls College student had allegedly collided with Penelope Phillips' car at a roundabout, killing the 51-year-old instantly.

Frances Stubbs had been stopped at a police checkpoint about 400m from home and breath-tested. Police said she blew a positive result and was asked to pull over for a second test but drove off.

Detective Richard Rolton told the Marlborough Express a police officer followed Miss Stubbs in his patrol car.

He turned a corner to see her tail lights disappearing and then "a flurry of smoke" ahead, which was steam coming from one car's radiator.

Police said it might be several weeks before they decide whether to charge Miss Stubbs. They are awaiting blood-test results to determine whether she was over the blood-alcohol limit.

Mr Stubbs said his daughter was a safe and experienced driver, but had a "brain explosion" when she was pulled over and took off, knowing she had alcohol in her system.

The family was Christian and his wife never drank alcohol. He would have "a beer on a hot day or a glass of wine with friends".

The couple's other children, David, 21, and Jordan, 17, were not heavy drinkers either, Mr Stubbs said.

He said Frances was distressed and had "shed lots of tears". A counsellor was to see her yesterday.

She was taking a week off from her job at Annies, a local factory which makes fruit products.

Miss Stubbs is taking a "gap year" after completing the first year of a psychology and education degree at Canterbury University.

Her father said the family wanted to extend their sympathies to Ms Phillips' family.

Ms Phillips' partner, Neil Jorgensen, said yesterday he did not hold any animosity towards Miss Stubbs.

"There is no point in holding any aggression towards the driver. It doesn't change a thing. It doesn't bring Penny back."

Ms Phillips' coffin is to be carried on the couple's orange monster truck, Big Bruvva, which they built, on a 4km trip to the Waterlea Racecourse for her funeral on Thursday.

The mother of five and grandmother of 11 became interested in monster trucks when she and Mr Jorgensen built their first one from an abandoned wreck.

Ms Phillips hoped to use the trucks to raise money to take children to the Starship hospital in Auckland, where grandson Hayden, now 7, was treated after a car crash near Nelson last year.

She had been given approval to start fundraising on the day she died.