{"id":395906,"date":"2026-04-24T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/395906\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:43:09","slug":"state-highway-14-crash-northland-dad-who-moved-from-zimbabwe-dies-on-way-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/395906\/","title":{"rendered":"State Highway 14 crash: Northland dad who moved from Zimbabwe dies on way to work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police knocked on Maria\u2019s door around 6pm with the news that Killian had died.<\/p>\n

Now, she and their children \u2013 16-year-old twins Dean and Lynn, 10-year-old Marshall, and 5-year-old Emanuel \u2013 were grappling with the insurmountable loss. <\/p>\n

\" From left, Killian, Lynn, Dean, Emanuel, Maria and Marshall. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Maria described her husband as a \u201clovely man\u201d who wanted the very best for his family, providing what they all needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the mornings, he would do lunchboxes for his children, and he would take them to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the weekend, Killian would take them to the park, something of a novel experience as it wasn\u2019t safe to do that in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have those playgrounds that you can go and just hang around … so they loved that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Killian had recently helped 16-year-old Dean get his learner\u2019s licence, and would take him for lessons in the mornings before work. <\/p>\n

\" Killian Musarurwa in the Bay of Islands. He moved to Northland in search of a better life for his family. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Now, their children were expressing how much they missed those small moments with their dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re so sad,\u201d Maria said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something they indicated that \u2018Oh, we really miss the way he would say, \u201cHave you finished bathing, now I\u2019ve put your cornflakes on the table, you can come and eat\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, they really miss him,\u201d she said. \u201cAt times it makes me want to cry.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maria was struggling without her husband, noting how she wouldn\u2019t usually have to worry about anything in the mornings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now that he\u2019s not there, it\u2019s something. You know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria, who works at BestStart <\/a>Maunu, moved to New Zealand in July, and Killian joined in November with the children. <\/p>\n

Maria hoped to return Killian to where his ancestors were buried, and where his family \u2013 including four siblings and his mother \u2013 were waiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy number one worry when I got the news was, \u2018Will I be able to take him back home?\u2019, because it\u2019s our culture that if someone passes on, they have to do the whole funeral and do body viewing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\" Maria and Killian Musarurwa. Maria is now grappling with the loss of her husband. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

After the crash, Maria\u2019s boss set up a Givealittle to help cover the costs<\/a>, which Maria estimated to be around $30,000.<\/p>\n

Their four children would remain behind in New Zealand with a family friend while Maria took her husband home. <\/p>\n

Maria was grateful for the African community and those in Maunu who had offered comfort and for BestStart who had been taking turns cooking food for her family.<\/p>\n

She was grateful for donations as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cWords fail me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maria was determined to continue their new life in New Zealand and fulfil her husband\u2019s dream. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was someone who would want what\u2019s best for [our] children, even me as well,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe really wanted this life that we are having right now. So I will just stay here. God will make a way.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police knocked on Maria\u2019s door around 6pm with the news that Killian had died. Now, she and their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22256,74,3471,682,1061,204574,204572,3549,49325,634,7126,2209,204573,71,108560,26755,75407,204571,32033,111,43,139,1067,69,90,9346,21940,13672,24994,9640,61,14047,1299,4576,64732],"class_list":["post-395906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-22256","tag-after","tag-among","tag-being","tag-children","tag-clinging","tag-cornflakes","tag-crash","tag-dad","tag-death","tag-dies","tag-father","tag-fours","tag-from","tag-gestures","tag-highway","tag-loving","tag-lunchboxes","tag-moved","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-packed","tag-placed","tag-state","tag-sudden","tag-table","tag-to","tag-way","tag-who","tag-work","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}