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Home / New Zealand

Mum's grief at girls' deaths

By Rebecca Milne
Herald on Sunday·
19 Jul, 2008 05:00 PM3 mins to read

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KEY POINTS:

The guilt-stricken mother of twin 15-year-old girls killed in a car crash says she blames herself for their deaths.

Shaan and Jasmine Tahere were in the back seat of a high-powered Ford Falcon when it span out of control and crashed on the Northwestern Motorway in Auckland last
November.

Shaan died in the ambulance on the way to Auckland Hospital and her sister died the following day after emergency surgery failed to save Jasmine's life.

The driver, close friend Bella Wong Tung, 23, faces five charges, including driving causing death and injury while under the influence of alcohol, and is due to appear before Auckland District Court next month for a status hearing.

Wong Tung's brothers Moses, Joshua and Isaiah were also passengers in the car when it span out of control. They were driving to Mangere, where relatives were waiting to break the news of another death in the family.

The twins' mother, Natasha Rima, said she was still reeling from the fact they had been drinking secretly at her home before the smash.

"I was not aware of the drinking until Shaan, the youngest of the twins, kissed me goodbye," said Rima.

"I confronted her, and she replied she had just had one drink. I then asked her if the driver had been drinking and she replied, 'No'. I wish I had taken a few minutes just to get up and check."

Pain and guilt have plagued 35-year-old Rima since the accident. She needed counselling to deal with "a lot of suicidal thoughts".

She said she will never forget holding Shaan's body at the hospital.

"It didn't feel real. I walked into the morgue, and I took the sheet off Shaan and held her."

The slim hope Jasmine would survive her massive injuries was short-lived. "She had a mountain of tubes coming from her and had lost about 200 pints of blood. She died later that day. I think they kept her alive for me."

She said her daughters had turned their lives around since they'd been in Auckland.

Raised by their father in Hamilton, they were sent away from the Waikato after joining a gang, ditching school and being convicted of burglary. After moving to Auckland last August, they blossomed under their mother's watchful gaze. They swapped hoodies, jeans and gang colours for dresses and makeup and joined dance troupe Raise Up.

The talented young performers were accepted into a Maori performing arts course but died before taking the stage together.

Losing the twins so soon after they turned their lives around has devastated Rima and her family.

"Sometimes it just eats me up. My heart was broken, I wanted to turn back time. They were just starting off life and doing the right things," said Rima.

"When they first arrived from Hamilton, they looked like little hoodlum kids.

"But the girls had it in them to make something of themselves. They were joined at the hip."

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