Car-crash family cry out in grief

Waiting at Brisbane Airport on Boxing Day with a one-way Freedom Air ticket to Palmerston North, Tony Martin must have constantly replayed the events of Christmas morning.

That day the 20-year-old New Zealander left two young women dead, lying near the median strip of South Brisbane's Kingston Rd.

It was 4.30am, apparently after a night of drinking on Queensland's Gold Coast.

His Ford Fairlane was almost torn in two as it smashed first into a traffic light, then a powerpole.

He and flatmate Cameron Maxton escaped with minor injuries, but Mr Maxton's girlfriend, Mandy Lea Morrell, 19, and her friend Casey Debbie Jones, 20, were flung from the rear seat.

Twenty-four hours later, Martin, who had been living in South Brisbane's Sunnybank Hills for two years, headed for the airport to go home.

But before he could board his flight, police arrested him and charged him with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death.

His family say he panicked and was not thinking straight.

However, Miss Morrell's family say he was trying to escape.

Her mother Karen says the air ticket he held when arrested was proof he was trying to run.

"I know he would suffer whether he was caught or not," Mrs Morrell said.

"I know there has to be justice done there because of what he has done, but I know he will suffer either way."

Martin's family say suggestions he was running were untrue.

His mother has flown to Brisbane to stay with family and visit him in custody.

He will reappear in the Beenleigh Magistrate's Court on March 2.

The Morrell family were opening Christmas presents and waiting for their daughter Mandy to arrive when they heard the news.

"It's just wrecked it, it's destroyed Christmas forever," says her father, Kevin Morrell.

All Mr Maxton, her boyfriend of five years, could tell Mrs Morrell over the phone was "Mandy's gone".

"That wasn't right. He shouldn't have had to ring us and tell us," Mr Morrell says.

Not only did their daughter die on Christmas Day, Mr Morrell says the public holiday made it worse because her autopsy was not completed in time for the funeral planned on Tuesday and it had to be rescheduled for Wednesday. A gold ring they bought her for Christmas was buried with her. A popcorn-maker remains unopened in the Loganlea house they have lived in for 25 years.

Mr Maxton has been to visit but he remembers little.

"All he remembers is the car going sideways and a big bang," Mr Morrell says.

Mr Maxton told him that when it stopped the two young women, who had been friends in high school, were lying dead on the median strip.

Mr Morrell says he had never met Martin even though he flatted with Mr Maxton after they worked together at a supermarket warehouse.

Martin and the two young women had driven to the Gold Coast that night to pick up Mr Maxton.

They later went for a drink at a bar.

Police have yet to determine Martin's blood alcohol reading, but they believe he was speeding.

Mrs Morrell saw pictures of the car on television. "You just can't believe I didn't want to see it. I saw it by accident. You can't describe it.

"For me I'm numb at the moment. The worst is yet to come."

The worst so far has been identifying her daughter's body on Christmas Day. "We're still just trying to come to terms with it ... The time is going to come when, six months down the track, you know, why hasn't she come home?"