Witness describes boat impaling car in crash that killed mother Nateisha-Kurstyn Pareteoro Hana-Wetere

Nateisha-Kurstyn Pareteoro Hana-Wetere died after a crash near Te Kuiti on July 11. File photo / NZ Herald

By Sam Sherwood of RNZ

A driver involved in a fatal crash after their boat and trailer unit broke free, colliding with an oncoming vehicle, stayed at the scene and spoke with police, one of the first people on the scene has confirmed.

It comes after police said they were “following positive lines of inquiry regarding an individual and will look to speak with them in due course”.

Nateisha-Kurstyn Pareteoro Hana-Wetere’s brother Te Huia Brown-Hana told RNZ his sister was driving near Te Kūiti on her way back home to Auckland after a holiday in New Plymouth on July 11 when the crash occurred.

Following publication, a witness who was one of the first at the scene told RNZ the driver of the car stayed at the scene and spoke to police. Police, who earlier said they were following positive lines of inquiry in relation to an individual, have since confirmed the driver stayed at the scene and was spoken to.

The 23-year-old’s car was struck by a boat and trailer unit that had detached from an oncoming black SUV.

Hana-Wetere died as a result of the crash. Her 3-year-old son was also in the car, Brown-Hana said.

RNZ asked police for comment on the investigation last week.

A police spokesperson said: “Police are following positive lines of enquiry regarding an individual and will look to speak with them in due course.

“Police are not seeking anyone else at this time.”

A man who was one of the first on the scene contacted RNZ after Brown-Hana appealed for the driver to come forward.

The man, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said the driver of the car which was towing the boat and trailer unit was “in no shape or form to go anywhere or do anything”.

“The police talked to him and interviewed him,” he said.

The man told RNZ how he had just pulled into the left lane of a double lane near Te Kūiti when the crash occurred.

“I looked up, and here’s this b****y car, her car coming back at me with a boat impaled in the front of it and everything stopped. I locked up everything and only stopped a couple of paces from the ... car.”

The driver of the car that had been towing the boat pulled over and stopped, he said.

“He was totally unaware of what was about to happen or anything like that.”

The man said he got Hana-Wetere’s son out of the car as his wife called emergency services.

Hana-Wetere’s brother told RNZ after hearing the witness’ comments he wanted to thank the driver for not fleeing and “actually facing his consequences”.

‘Broken my heart’

Brown-Hana said his sister was “larger than life”. She was caring, and had a “bubbly” personality.

“She was everything you could have wanted and more in terms of a sibling.

“She always accepted everyone for who they were. She didn’t pass judgement on no-one.”

Hana-Wetere’s partner was working in Australia, and she was planning to eventually join him.

Brown-Hana said his sister was in a great place in her life. She had recently moved to Auckland, with her brother helping her pick up furniture and other items for the home.

“She had everything going - she started planning out what she wanted in her life and how she wanted to get there and she was actually doing really well,” he said.

“Her child had anything and everything he could have needed - nothing came before him and nothing came after him. It was only him and him only.”

Brown-Hana said his nephew was constantly asking his dad and others: “Where’s mummy?”

“I tell him ‘mummy’s gone to sleep my boy. One day you’ll see your mum again. But for the moment my boy she’s asleep. She’s too tired’.”

Brown-Hana said he was worried about the emotional toll on the little boy.

“It’s that mental thing that’s going to play on him for the rest of his life. Knowing that at 3 years old he had to watch his mum die and he couldn’t save her.”

Brown-Hana said the whānau had experienced an array of emotions in the past month, including sorrow that no one had been held responsible.

“It’s unfair that we are robbed of her grace and we don’t have any answers to why or how or what’s going to happen to who stole it, who stole her existence.

“All we can do is rally around together as a whānau and just hope eventually at some point we get an answer.”

- RNZ