Sydney crash: Heartbroken dad grieves 'little angel' lost in fatal Buxton crash

John Van De Putte and his "little angel" daughter Lily.

The heartbroken father of a 14-year-old girl killed in a horrific crash near Sydney says there needs to be harsher penalties for driving offences like the one that killed his "little angel".

Lily Van de Putte, 14, was one of five young teenagers killed in a crash that devastated so many people.

Her father John was in hospital under sedation when Lily sent her last text to him, asking the perennial teenage question: "Dad, can I go out?"

When he woke up, he learned his daughter was dead.

Van De Putte said he knew something was wrong when woke up on Wednesday afternoon to find a large number of missed calls.

"I saw her text and thought: 'There's no use texting that is there? That's done and dusted'," he said.

His son came into the hospital room crying and Van De Putte said he just knew his daughter had died.

Lily had been in a car with her friends Tyrese Bechard, Summer Williams, Antonio Desisto and another teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons, about 8pm on Tuesday.

The Nissan Navara ute was being driven by Tyrell Edwards, 18, when he allegedly lost control and hit a tree on East Parade in Buxton.

All five passengers, aged between 14 and 16, died at the scene. They had all attended the same high school in Picton.

Van De Putte said the teenagers had told a parent that they were going to drive to McDonald's to have icecream, see a few friends, then drive straight back to where they were staying.

Summer Williams and Tyrese Bechard were the victims in the Buxton crash.

"That was it. Obviously kids being kids, they lied, didn't they?" he said.

Calls for stronger laws

Although he did not blame the teenagers, Van De Putte said he hoped their loss would be a turning point.

"Hopefully we can learn from it and change a few things," he said.

He is calling for stronger laws governing P-plate drivers and harsher penalties for those who break the rules.

The dad believes police should be able to implement a speed restriction device, similar to an interlock device that requires drivers to pass a breath test to prove they're sober.

There should be harsher punishments for driving offences because even minor infractions can form a dangerous pattern of behaviour, according to Van De Putte.

He hoped stronger rules would restrict repeat offenders.

Lily Van De Putte was her dad's sidekick for years.

"I'm all for stricter penalties, even more minor offences," he said.

"When we're young, we think we're invincible."

Lily was a "little angel"

Van De Putte hopes stronger laws around provisional drivers would prevent the same tragedy from happening again.

He's still coming to terms with the loss of his "little angel".

She was his sidekick for many years while he was a stay-at-home dad.

"We'd go everywhere (together)," he said.

"She was full of sass."

The 14-year-old had a mature curiosity about the world and abundant empathy for anyone in suffering, her dad said.

"Lily was a very caring and giving person," he said.

"I can remember an instance when we just came back from Little Athletics and we were going through the McDonald's drive-through.

"There was a lady there begging for money on the side of the road and (Lily) made us stop and she donated her dinner for the night to her."

Van De Putte said his daughter was always looking out for others and defending people who were picked on for being different.

"She was a really good athlete. (Once when) she finished a race, she scooted across the track and ran with the ones who were straggling to help them finish," he said.

Devastating blow to community

Van De Putte said the loss of five bright young people had reverberated throughout the community.

"All the victims in that car, they were all really nice kids," he said.

"They weren't the ones who do graffiti or anything like that. They were nice teenagers."

He was in regular contact with the families of the other children who were killed, although he said they were all at different stages of the grieving process.

"You don't expect this to happen," he said disbelievingly.

"It'll probably sink in after the funeral."

The Van De Puttes will be holding Lily's funeral and wake next week in their local area.

Although it was hard to find a venue that would allow young people, they said the community had been incredibly supportive throughout the nightmare experience.

"The community's been fantastic," Van De Putte said.

Buxton is a town of just over 2000 people just south of Sydney.

It doesn't have its own high school, so children in the area catch a bus or a lift to nearby Picton, about 15 minutes away.

Losing five children from the tight knit community in one horrific crash has had a huge impact on the area, according to locals.

Counselling has been put in place to assist students at Picton High School.

"It's been pretty tough for everyone," Van De Putte said.

Hate won't help

When it comes to the teenager driving the car when his daughter died, the father said he knew Edwards would face legal repercussions.

"I just need to use my emotional energy on remembering my daughter and rebuilding my life," he said.

"I'm not engaging my emotions to (hold onto negative feelings towards Edwards). It's not going to help me recover from the loss of my child."

Edwards is currently in custody on remand after being charged with five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death – driving in a manner dangerous.

Picton Court heard he had previously been suspended from driving twice for speeding offences.

According to court documents, police located a video on Edwards' phone taken roughly an hour before the crash that showed him driving dangerously while travelling at speeds of about 90km/h.

He will return to court in November.