Haunted by tragedy

Jaycherree Makakea with her daughter, Kiyana. Photo / Supplied

The family of a young woman who died after the vehicle she was in crashed while being chased by police have spoken for the first time about their grief.

Jaycherree Penelope Makakea, who would have turned 21 last Monday, was one of two people killed when the car they were passengers in ploughed into a power pole on Church St, Onehunga, eight days ago.

The driver, Aaron Tony Tulafono, who turns 21 today, faces seven charges, including two of manslaughter.

Tulafono allegedly led police on a high-speed chase through Onehunga before the smash and then fled the scene. Joseph Tawhai, 20, also died at the scene. His cousin and best friend Simone Pouka, who owned the car, and Skye Ngatai were injured.

In a sad twist of fate Jaycherree's mother Teremaki also died in a car accident, three days before her 21st birthday. Jaycherree was just 11 months old at the time and went to live with her aunt and uncle Abbie and Pete Petricevich.

Jaycherree was rocked by tragedy again last August when her and partner Eddie Lawrence's daughter Kiyana died of cot death.

"She's had a really rough year, she's never really settled," Pete said. "When baby died she never came right."

Eddie's mother Waina said Jaycherree spent a lot of time at Kiyana's grave and had a special song on her cellphone that she would play to her daughter.

"She was absolutely blown away when she had baby, I went to see her at the hospital and she was glowing. She was such a good mum," Waina said.

"Her baby came first. Nothing else mattered, just her and her baby."

Kiyana's headstone was unveiled three weeks ago and Jaycherree's ashes will be buried with her daughter at a private family service.

Jaycherree had planned a 21st barbecue and drinks with friends for her birthday. Waina and Eddie's dad Noel were going to shout the couple a night at SkyCity to mark the occasion. The day she died she had texted Waina to say she was stoked about getting a new job at the Koru Club.

Jaycherree was living with her grandparents in Mangere when she died. Her grandfather went with police to formally identify Jaycherree's body.

"We couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. I said to papa 'are you sure it was Jay?'. He just sat there, he was dumbfounded ... in shock. And then he said yes, it was Jay."

Abbie and Pete have not heard from police since their daughter died and are angry they do not have answers.

"There has been no contact whatsoever. No one has come to see us, no one has called us. They released all the information to the media without contacting us," Abbie said.

"We want to know the whole story, every detail. She's a victim in this, we have a right to know. People are asking us what happened but we don't know."

Jaycherree's family said she was friends with Pouka, but did not know anyone else in the car well. They have not spoken to any of the crash survivors, but were approached by Tulafono's uncle just hours after learning of Jaycherree's death.

"He came to apologise on behalf of his nephew," said Abbie.

Pete said: "It was good for him to come. We weren't angry."

He wants to meet Tulafono and ask him about the crash.

"It would be nice to hear about the last minutes of Jay's life, what were they doing, where was she sitting in the car?"