Hazel Wildman and Faeda Hunter posted selfies as they recovered in hospital. Photo / News Corp Australia
Hazel Wildman and Faeda Hunter posted selfies as they recovered in hospital. Photo / News Corp Australia
The friends of a woman killed in a head-on collision moments after being filmed on Snapchat driving dangerously have broken their silence.
Hazel Wildman and Faeda Hunter made national headlines when Snapchat videos filmed by the pair appeared to show Shania McNeill, 21, moments before her death, driving her pinkNissan Micra recklessly, revving the engine, swerving into oncoming traffic as her passengers screamed in terror.
McNeill, from Queensland, was killed when her car was involved in a head-on collision with a Nissan Micra at Berkshire Park in the early hours of April 28.
Snapchat video shows Shania McNeill on the night of her death. Photo / News Corp Australia
More Snapchat video of the night leading up to the fatal crash, which injured four people and killed McNeill, obtained by Sydney's Daily Telegraph, shows the three girls skolling from cans and skylarking and driving around the streets of Sydney while Shania screams behind the wheel of the car.
Speaking out six weeks after the accident in a TV interview, Wildman, 23, and Hunter, 20, appeared tearful and emotional, telling Channel 7's Sunday Night they'd share the full story of what happened on the night that killed their friend.
"I miss her, so much," Wildman said as she wiped tears from her face.
"We were the girls that filmed it," an emotional Hunter said.
After the accident, the pair posted selfies from hospital to their social media accounts.
Shania McNeill died senselessly, killed when she smashed into an oncoming car. This week, @AlexTCullen talks to everyone involved in the tragedy as they struggle to understand this reckless and senseless waste of a young life. That's Sunday at 8:30pm on @Channel7. pic.twitter.com/kRlcufgMCH
In the teaser for the program, Wildman puts her hand up, saying she was the one who posted the photo hours after the death of her young friend.
But the pair appearing on Sunday Night has been slammed by Shania's grieving father Lee McNeill.
He told the Sunday Telegraph that he had been approached by two TV networks but didn't believe anyone should make money from the tragedy.
"I've got a box of ashes in my garage. It makes me sick to involve money," he said.
"It's nice to know the girls are profiting of my daughter's death.
"I was approached by two networks but I didn't sign anything. It makes me sick to involve money."
The pair are due to appear on the program in Australia on Sunday night, and the program promises the pair will reveal everything about the events leading up to the accident which took McNeill's life
Dennis Sales, driving his silver Nissan Micra, was hit head-on by Ms McNeill's Suzuki in the early hours of April 28, in Berkshire Park, west of Sydney. Also injured in the accident was his passenger Ken Morrow. The pair had been performing at a gig at the Riverstone RSL.
A Gofundme has been set up to assist Sales and Morrow, as they continue their recovery from the accident.
The Snapchat video also attracted criticism from Shania's grieving father in the days following the accident.
"I think it was reckless of them all to be sort of distracting each other," McNeill said of the disturbing video.
McNeill said the knock at the door he received from police was "going to haunt me for the rest of my life".
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said following the accident that drivers being distracted by social media is a problem on the increase. He said it affects drivers across age brackets.
"It's not just young people — it's right through the (age) spectrum," Corboy said.
"Any trend of going to video or Instagram or any of those social media platforms and sending out video or taping while you're driving is a trend we're really trying to stop.
"The message needs to get through that if you continue to do this, you or your friends could continue to die."
