A 13-year-old boy had been drinking before being
asked to drive a group of intoxicated adults home from a wedding - a
trip which ended in the crash death of 17-year-old Marylee Magdalene
Huata.
Miss Huata died in Wairoa Hospital on December 27 after
being flung from the vehicle on Putere Road in the Hawke's Bay town of
Paupunga.
She and other passengers were not wearing seatbelts.
The
car's driver, 13-year-old Tyrone Thornton, told a coronial inquest he
had been drinking RTDs at a wedding at Kahungunu Marae in Raupunga on
December 26, and went to sleep in the driver's seat of a car at 4am.
His cousin, 19-year-old Hayden Thornton, woke Tyrone two hours later and asked him to drive a group home.
Just
800 metres from the marae, Tyrone drifted across the road, then
attempted to correct the vehicle, causing it to overturn and roll
sideways before coming to rest on its wheels.
Miss Huata was flung from the vehicle,
Hayden Thornton told the inquest Tyrone was able to drive, as he had driven before - despite his age.
However, Tyrone said he was still tired and may have fallen asleep while driving.
In
his findings, Coroner Christopher Devonport said the crash showed why
people under 15 (now 16) and unlicensed people were not allowed to drive
on the roads, and why there were restrictions on young drivers.
He said Tyrone and the others showed a "blatant disregard for the driving laws".
"It
was wrong for Tyrone to have driven, but it is equally reprehensible
that other persons placed 13-year-old Tyrone Thornton in that position,"
he said.
"It is by chance only that there were not more deaths as a result of the crash."
He noted Tyrone was not charged over the crash.
Mr Devonport ruled Miss Huata died of a head injury when she was ejected from the vehicle after failing to wear a seat belt.
NZN