Man charged over deaths

Jaycherre Penelope Makakea. Photo / Supplied

Passengers a car allegedly fleeing police pleaded for the driver to stop moments before he slammed into a pole, killing two of them.

A 20-year-old Mangere East man will appear in the Auckland District Court tomorrow on two manslaughter charges in relation to the deaths of Jaycherre Penelope Makakea and Joseph Jack Tawhai, both 20, in Onehunga on Friday night. Simone Pouka, 19, and an unnamed passenger were injured.

Pouka's father James told the Herald on Sunday yesterday everyone in the car was telling the driver to stop.

Police said they pursued the car through Onehunga after reports that someone was shining a red laser beam at motorists on the southwestern motorway from an overbridge.

Police abandoned the pursuit after less than two minutes when the car ran a red light.

Inspector Jim Wilson said the driver continued at speed for a further 170 metres, before it clipped a roundabout at the intersection of Church St and Waller St, struck a power pole and flipped on its roof.

The driver who ran from the scene later handed himself in to police and was arrested.

Simone Pouka, who owned the silver Honda Integra, was Tawhai's cousin.

She was discharged from hospital yesterday and taken to her parents' Manurewa home where they broke the news to her about his death.

"He was her best friend ... we've just told her," said her mother Liz Pouka.

She said her daughter was "really stressed" about what had happened.

Witnesses to the accident estimated the car was travelling about 100km in the 50kmzone.

Aaron Eruera ran out of his house just after the crash.

"We heard police sirens and the next thing we heard was a big smash. My first thought was that it was thunder," he said.

Eruera took road cones and blocked off a side street to stop oncoming traffic as police converged on the car.

Fourteen people have been killed during or after police pursuits in the past 10 months.

Three men in a stolen Toyota Starlet hatchback were caught by police last night after a high-speed chase from the North Shore to Maungaturoto in Northland.

Road spikes had been set at various places along the route but were removed for safety reasons when speeds reached 160km/h.