NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / New Zealand

Overloaded stolen car smashes into Hastings house: 'It looked like her eyeball was coming out'

By Gary Hamilton-Irvine
NZ Herald·
9 Sep, 2021 10:09 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

A stolen vehicle smashed through a Flaxmere home at speed early this morning. Hawke's Bay Today's Gary Hamilton-Irvine reports

A stolen car, a smashed house, a shunted mattress, a group of fleeing teens and a girl whose eyeball looked like it was "coming out".

A witness has described the carnage he awoke to in Margate Ave in Flaxmere on Friday as an overloaded car ploughed through a house and kept going.

Eventually the stolen Subaru Legacy hit a fence at the back of the property, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Shayne Bryant was at the shops when a car went through his house on Friday morning. Photo / Paul Taylor
Shayne Bryant was at the shops when a car went through his house on Friday morning. Photo / Paul Taylor

Neighbour Trima Tino said he saw eight young people get out of the Subaru Legacy and they all looked like teenagers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Seven of them ran off before he stopped one girl - aged about 14 or 15 - who had stumbled out of the car who had suffered a serious head injury.

He said she was bleeding and "it looked like her eyeball was coming out".

Resident Shayne Bryant says it was lucky no one was killed. Photo / Paul Taylor
Resident Shayne Bryant says it was lucky no one was killed. Photo / Paul Taylor

Tino said he told the injured girl to sit down on the front lawn while the police and ambulance were called.

He said the Margate Ave corner was a crash blackspot.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Resident Shayne Bryant lives at the house and ducked out to the shop to get some milk just a few minutes before the crash.

The crash caused huge damage to the home. Photo / Paul Taylor
The crash caused huge damage to the home. Photo / Paul Taylor

"I went to the shop and came back about five minutes later and someone had gone through my house," he said.

Discover more

New Zealand

Saving for a home in Hawke's Bay, when prices go up by $23 every hour

12 Sep 05:00 PM

"They took out the letterbox and went straight through the house."

He said you could see skid marks about 100 metres up the road and the car must have jumped the curb and gone airborne before taking out the letterbox, fence and the corner of the house.

The car then came to a stop about 15m past the house in the back fence.

He said the room that they crashed through was the spare room and if anyone was in there they would likely have died.

The back lawn of the property on Margate Ave was strewn with material. Photo / Paul Taylor
The back lawn of the property on Margate Ave was strewn with material. Photo / Paul Taylor

The bed from the spare room was sent about 5m out onto the lawn and a sleeping bag from the bed was dragged under the car, Bryant said.

Bryant said when he returned home there was about five people outside his home including the injured girl, who had a towel wrapped around her head and "was in a bad way".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"In the front window of the car there was a piece of wood stuck through it and there was blood on the seat," he said.

"A cop told us that she might lose her eye."

He said he had a house mate who was sleeping in another room in the house and he did not wake up despite the smash.

A bed from a spare room was dragged onto the lawn. Photo / Paul Taylor
A bed from a spare room was dragged onto the lawn. Photo / Paul Taylor

Bryant said he heard cars hooning around the area all the time and neighbours had experienced broken fences and crashes in the past.

"Council has to do something," he said. "We need speed bumps or something done to slow people down."

He said a friend was meant to be coming today to change carpet in the house and would have been killed if he was in the room.

Police confirmed one person had been seriously injured.

"Several people were seen to get out of the car and leave the area on foot," a police spokeswoman said.

The car came to rest on the back fence. Photo / Paul Taylor
The car came to rest on the back fence. Photo / Paul Taylor

"One person, who had been in the vehicle, sustained serious injuries and remained at the crash site.

"That person was transported to hospital in a serious condition.

"No occupants of the house were injured."

Hastings resident Fa'amanu Manutulila realised his 2007 Subaru Legacy had been stolen when he received a visit from police on Friday morning.

He visited the crash site a few hours later to find his car had been towed away and just the bumper and number plate were left on the lawn.

He told Hawke's Bay Today he had owned the car for about three years and it was not insured.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'It was holding him up': Driver gets car stuck on Waitara Bridge median barrier

Crime

'Disgusted by my actions': Man who scammed 21 people apologises, but won't give up co-offenders

New Zealand

Man rescues a freedom camper as her vehicle is swamped by rising flood waters in Kawakawa

Watch

Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'It was holding him up': Driver gets car stuck on Waitara Bridge median barrier
New Zealand

'It was holding him up': Driver gets car stuck on Waitara Bridge median barrier

'He didn’t even know he was up there. He was in a daze.'

16 Jul 06:34 AM
'Disgusted by my actions': Man who scammed 21 people apologises, but won't give up co-offenders
Crime

'Disgusted by my actions': Man who scammed 21 people apologises, but won't give up co-offenders

16 Jul 06:00 AM
Man rescues a freedom camper as her vehicle is swamped by rising flood waters in Kawakawa
New Zealand

Man rescues a freedom camper as her vehicle is swamped by rising flood waters in Kawakawa

Watch
16 Jul 06:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP