Kre Turia, 25, of Auckland, has been jailed for dangerous driving causing death and injury. Photo / Belinda Feek
After reaching speeds of up to 125km/h, Kre Turia barely braked before his car smashed into the side of a delivery truck and burst into flames.
His back-seat passengers, Kerihaehae Nepe, known as Rangimarie, and her partner Charlie Russell, were thrown from the car on impact and landed underneath the truck.
Turia, who was trapped by his legs, and his front-seat passenger, Daimai Tokoa, were briefly knocked unconscious.
Police arrived quickly and battled the flames to remove Nepe and Russell from the immediate scene and pull Tokoa from the wreckage.
Firefighters had to cut Turia free.
Turia and Tokoa, who had a horrific head injury, were taken to Waikato Hospital.
Turia, who lost his lower left leg in the crash, was sentenced in Hamilton District Court this morning on a charge of dangerous driving causing injury and two counts of dangerous driving causing death.
The 25-year-old was realistic he might be jailed, but his counsel, Dr Richard Keam, unsuccessfully pushed for Judge Glen Marshall to apply discounts of 80%, to enable him to serve a shorter term of imprisonment.
Turia and the victims began drinking at a Hamilton property from about 6pm on July 9, 2023.
By 3.40am, they were on Hood St.
Turia got into his car and drove along Hood St, towards Victoria St.
He stopped at the intersection of Alexandra St, where the three victims got in; Tokoa got in the front, and Nepe and Russell, both 19 of Hamilton, got in the back.
Nobody was wearing seatbelts.
Turia drove along Hood St toward Victoria St, accelerating heavily. Police were travelling along Hood St in an unmarked patrol car and did a U-turn to follow.
Turia was impeded by traffic, which was congested at the time due to taxis and other road users, while his passengers had their hands out the window, gesturing and waving to members of the public.
Further up Victoria St, at the intersection with Alma St, police were packing up a checkpoint when Turia approached and “accelerated heavily” past them.
Officers didn’t follow him, but Turia sped on and went through the intersection with London St at 125km/h. The speed limit is 50km/h.
He continued driving at speed and took the moderate left turn from Victoria St to Ulster St.
At the same time, a truck had just begun pulling into Pak’nSave Mill St to drop off some milk.
The driver had just made the turn when he first saw Turia’s vehicle, 161m away.
It took just 4.66 seconds for Turia’s car to crash into the side of the truck.
His speed at the time of impact was assessed as being 124.4km/h.
Turia made “little attempts to slow or swerve” before crashing, throwing Nepe and Russell from the car. They landed underneath the truck and died at the scene.
The car almost immediately burst into flames, as Tokoa lay slumped over the dashboard, and Turia was trapped in the car.
Police were quickly at the scene and moved the young couple away from the truck.
An officer used a pocket knife to cut Turia’s seatbelt, and four officers tried to pull him out of the vehicle but due to the fire were unsuccessful.
An officer then saw that Turia was trapped by his leg, and Tokoa was unresponsive, slouched over the front centre console with his right arm tucked under Turia’s shoulder.
Tokoa then began to move his body slightly, and make noises, and the two constables managed to grab him by his hands and pull him out of the burning car.
He’d suffered a significant head injury, with a portion of his scalp just hanging on by a small amount of skin.
Officers, meanwhile, continued trying to free Turia until Fire and Emergency staff arrived and used equipment to cut him free.
Both Turia and Tokoa were taken to Waikato Hospital with serious injuries.
Turia suffered a brain injury, lost his left leg below his knee, fractured a knee and a hand, had several skin abrasions, and burns to 6% of his body.
He returned a blood alcohol level of 153mg. The legal adult limit is 50mg.
The truck driver was uninjured.
Turia only held a restricted licence, and breached that licence by driving outside of the allowed hours, not having an appropriate supervisor in the front passenger seat, carrying unauthorised passengers, and driving while intoxicated.
While the car had a current warrant of fitness, only one headlight was working.
Judge Marshall told Turia he shouldn’t have been driving that day.
“Also significant is the fact that there were two deaths ... and serious injuries to the third victim.”
In December, Turia accepted a sentence indication of five years and six months’ jail along with discounts of 55%; 20% for his pleas, 25% for the impact of a prison sentence being disproportionately severe due to his injuries, 10% for youth and rehabilitation.
This morning, Keam pushed for a further 25% in discounts, leading to a total 80%, to allow for the steps he’d taken towards rehabilitation, and his alcohol, meth, and cannabis use disorders, along with his diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, brain injury, and “genuine remorse”.
But Judge Marshall mostly declined, only allowing a further 5% for Turia’s remorse.
He jailed Turia for 26 months and disqualified him from driving for four years before telling him the incident was “a tragedy for everyone concerned”.
“Two people lost their lives, one was seriously injured, and you yourself were seriously injured.
“The impact on the community has been devastating.
“The community has lost precious members. Your family have been impacted, the whole community has been impacted.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.