Police continued to investigate two days later, telling the Herald at the scene: “We don’t really know much.
“[We’re] trying to see whether there is anything on the road when it’s not wet.”
Asked if it was a head-on collision, the police officer said: “That’s what we’re trying to ascertain. Because there’s no witnesses. By the time we got here, everything had been moved. We’re not too sure.”
Mehikiterangi, a witness who lives nearby, said she heard a “loud noise” when the accident happened.
“We didn’t see anything. All we heard was the crash,” she said.
“My daughters were actually in the truck [in the driveway] during that time. I thought it was something out here because my girls were in the truck, so I ran straight there.
“My partner, he goes, ‘no, that was a crash’ … our neighbour had just come out to grab him and said, ‘I need your help’. And then they went off to help.”
Police are continuing to investigate the fatal crash. Photo / Hayden Woodward
She said Tirimoana Rd is a narrow street and “people speed”, which has caused other accidents in the past.
“It’s dangerous … we’ve only been living in this house for about 8-9 months now and the moment we moved in, we noticed how the cars would drive down the street and how the cars are parked.
“Our neighbour said to us that same night, ‘this isn’t the first time it’s happened. It always happens’. It’s just stupid because why hasn’t the council done anything about it?
“There’s literally a school around the corner … they need speed bumps or something.”
She said her partner, who helped out in the aftermath of the crash before emergency services arrived, was traumatised by the incident.
“To be honest, I’m a little bit shaken up. My partner, he had to have the day off yesterday because he saw it all, you know, and it was quite traumatising for him.
“I feel for the whānau because apparently he wasn’t too far from home.”