Anguish over double road death

Moihi Selwyn-Atama died at the scene after he was thrown from this car when it hit a truck and trailer unit on Old Taupo Rd. Photo / John Van de Ven

A Tokoroa teenager killed in a speeding car on Monday night was being driven by his cousin, and is the second boy from the town's high school to die on the roads in two weeks.

Last night, Grace Hapi, the mother of the driver, revealed she told her son Ngarimu and two nephews "don't be long" as they set off for a night in Tokoroa, laughing and joking.

Soon after, one nephew was dead, another injured and her distraught son was blaming himself for the death of his cousin.

The whanau of 17-year-old Moihi Rangiwhiua Edward Leigh Selwyn-Atama, killed in a head-on collision with a truck south of the town on Monday night, were yesterday coming to terms with the loss of a young man described as a "happy boy" and a "cheeky bugger".

The tragedy comes a fortnight after another Tokoroa High School pupil, 15-year-old Rangi Wilson, was struck by a car near the South Waikato town on September 18.

With Moihi in the car were his cousins Ngarimu Hapi, 21, and Lincoln Scott, 15, and the vehicle's owner, 18-year-old Sineta Scott.

Ngarimu Hapi was driving the car on Old Taupo Rd shortly before 8pm when he lost control of it.

It left the road, hit a stack of fence posts and then veered back on to the road and into the path of a truck and trailer unit.

The force of the collision shunted the car back into the log pile and threw Moihi out of the vehicle.

Despite efforts by police, ambulance officers and witnesses, he died at the scene.

The three others in the car were taken to hospital but did not have life-threatening injuries.

Speaking to the Herald last night, Ms Hapi said Sineti was recovering in Waikato Hospital, and Lincoln was expected to be discharged last night.

Ngarimu was struggling to cope with the tragedy.

"He's feeling it," she said. "He thinks it's all his fault."

Moihi's family were pulling together and "all trying to help each other", she said.

Ms Hapi said the four youngsters had set off on a ride into town.

"I was just telling them, 'don't be too long', and they said 'all right Auntie'.

"They weren't drinking at all."

She described her nephew as a keen eight-ball player - a "real pool shark" - who loved his family and was always smiling.

After leaving Tokoroa High School this year, he had been studying through Waiariki Institute of Technology at Rotorua.

"He was a bit of a joker, always being a bit of a cheeky bugger, but in a good way."

She said her family and the community were still dealing with the loss of Rangi Walker.

"That was horrible. But Tokoroa's a good town. When something happens, we all pull through it."

Pupils at Tokoroa High School, where Moihi's younger sister is in Year 11, were being offering counselling yesterday.

Principal Willie Ford spent the morning walking around the school ground and talking to pupils.

"The death of young Rangi Wilson a couple of weeks ago was really traumatic for us, but this time with Moihi, we had processes in place," he said.

Mr Ford recalled Moihi as a promising basketballer popular among his fellow pupils and staff.

"He was a nice boy. A happy, happy boy is how I'd describe him."

Mr Ford had encouraged him to return to school when he last saw him.

"He'd just left for the sake of leaving, I guess. When I saw him I said, 'why did you leave?' and he sort of just grinned at me," he said.

Tokoroa Police sergeant Terry Garnett said speed was the probable factor behind the crash.

He did not believe road conditions were to blame: "It's a relatively straight piece of road."

A serious crash unit investigation had to be completed before any decision was made on whether charges would be laid.