Coroner Scott said: "Carla was not accompanied home from school by a responsible older person, preferably an adult and she should have been.
"I do not accept that it was acceptable for Carla to go to and from school in the care of her older siblings - and part of the way home alone.
"The siblings were too young to be vested with that responsibility.
"Sadly the confidence that [her parents] had about Carla's road safety was misplaced and flies in the face of what happened."
Thank you, Coroner Scott. I think Mr and Mrs Neems have gone over that over and over and over again since that awful, awful day. I'm not sure your comments help anyone.
Plenty of kids younger than Carla walk to school by themselves and will continue to do so, especially in Gisborne where life is a lot quieter than much of New Zealand.
In addition to this is Coroner Smith's blanket suggestion that kids from Year 4 (age 10) and under should be accompanied by an adult while riding a scooter.
But one person's 10-year-old is another's 6-year-old.
I have friends whose 6-year-olds walk and bike to school solo. I have others who would never let their 10-year-old walk to school.
Every parent has to make that choice themselves. It depends on so many things. The distance they have to walk, the neighbourhood and the streets they go down, their experience, and that's before you even consider their maturity and spatial awareness.
My own very cautious 6-year-old girl, who is only slightly younger than Carla was, would probably be fine, except that we had seven instances of suspicious men in cars approaching girls Tauranga last year. Whether this was one man or more, that person or people are still out there roaming our streets, not apprehended.
It isn't my almost-7-year-old I don't trust: It's everyone else.
Let's not forget that adults also get hit and killed by cars all the time. More often than kids do, in fact.
Parents just like Fiona and Dion Neems weigh up the risk and benefits of these things every single day.
Do I let them scoot ahead on the footpath while I walk behind with the baby?
Should I move them from the five-point harness car seat to a booster?
Do I let them sit in the rear row of a seven-seater, placing them a lot closer to the impact should I be rear-ended at speed?
Parents are doing this stuff every single day. And it's all fine - until it isn't.
As Coroner Scott said himself: "It cannot be stated with certainty that Carla would have been safe had she been accompanied by an adult."
We don't know if it was her age or her solo status that caused her to end up colliding with that truck.
Maybe she rolled an ankle, or tripped and stumbled as she was about to wait for the truck to pass.
Unfortunately when people die in accidents, there are always unanswered questions such as these.
Where are all the condemning comments from our coroners every time babies and toddlers are murdered?
That's a much bigger problem for us as a nation than 6-year-olds walking home from school by themselves.
So to Carla's parents, Fiona and Dion Neems, and your two other daughters, it probably doesn't help at all - we can't bring your beautiful girl back - but I want you to know that lots of New Zealand stands with you.
It wasn't your fault. It was an accident.
