Mourners unite in grief for crash dead

Pallbearers carry one of the victims onto Hiruharama Marae. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Less than 500m from where their car ploughed into a tree, the bodies of six young Maori were carried yesterday on to Hiruharama Marae on the East Coast to be farewelled.

Thousands had earlier attended a service at Te Poho-o-Rawiri Marae in Gisborne as part of a sharing of grief for the loss which has rocked close-knit rural communities.

As three hearses drove north to Hiruharama, mourners lined the main street of Tolaga Bay. Men removed hats, a child held a bunch of white balloons and others wept.

Further north at Tokomaru Bay, a group of locals sang a waiata as the procession of about 50 vehicles turned off to slowly drive around the settlement where ancestors of the dead had once lived.

Later, police stopped southbound traffic to allow the cavalcade, about 2km long, to turn off and take the coastal route from Te Puia Springs to Waipiro Bay, passing small marae, before rejoining State Highway 35.

All of the dead were related and lived in Ruatoria or Te Puia.

They were killed early on Saturday as they were returning from a birthday party for Tania Maraki Reedy, 20, who died in the crash.

Her 22-year-old sister, Kuri Makere May Reedy, the driver, died with 2 1/2-year-old son Hamuera Randle Braybrook-Reedy. They will be buried together in one coffin.

Also in the car were cousins Hamuera Boyboy Harrison-Reedy, 22, Toni Marteena Grace, 17, and Heni Walsh, 16.

At Hiruharama, up to 1000 people were waiting. Students of Ngata Memorial College welcomed the procession with a waiata, tears streaming down the faces of many.

The coffins were carried into the small meeting house to an ongoing tremulous wail, which reverberated around a huge marquee at the front.

Hundreds paid their respects in a crush of grief, while family sat around the coffins, stroking their covers and grieving the dead.

Adults grasped children about the age of little Hamuera, smothering them in kisses and cuddles.

In Ruatoria, the town was all but deserted. Guests at the local hotel went without meals because all the cooks were down at the marae.

Heni Tawhiwhirangi, manager of Ngati Porou Radio, said the community was reeling. There had been road accidents before, "but for them to all go at once is devastating".

Ms Tawhiwhirangi was disappointed that none of those killed on Saturday were wearing seatbelts.

The tribal station had been running a campaign to encourage the use of seatbelts.

"We felt the message was getting through ... but I am now asking - have we missed something?"