Teen facing two more charges in relation to Northland crash that killed Janiah Fairburn and daughter

Janiah Fairburn and her daughter were killed when a silver sedan collided with their people mover at Topuni. Photo/Supplied

More charges have been laid against a teenager charged over a two-car crash that killed a Northland mother and daughter.

The 19-year-old could not attend his second court appearance in the Whangārei District Court yesterday as he was still recovering at Auckland City Hospital.

The silver sedan he was driving collided head-on with a people mover on State Highway 1 at Topuni on the night of March 30, killing Janiah Fairburn and her 2-year-old daughter Azarliyah Hadfield.

Fairburn's partner, Henare Hadfield, suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. Their 1-year-old son, Te Tairawhiti Hadfield, is being treated for spinal injuries at Starship hospital.

The 19-year-old driver was arrested in Auckland on the night of the crash and was initially facing two charges of driving with excess breath alcohol causing death, and another of failing to stop to ascertain injury. He allegedly had a breath alcohol level of 768mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.

Police have since laid two additional charges of driving with excess breath alcohol causing injury.

In court yesterday, his lawyer Julie Young asked that the interim name suppression continue and that her client would not be fit to appear in court for at least another week.

Judge Keith de Ridder remanded the man back in custody at the hospital and said interim name suppression would be revisited next week.