Crash victim had 'heart of gold' says long-time friend

Seventy-three-year-old Cicely Bramley was on her way home from her knitting group when a man driving with his sleeping family in the car swerved into her Holden, killing both of them and his baby daughter.

A long-time friend whom the retired nurse took in when he was struggling with drug and alcohol problems says the pensioner had "a heart of gold".

The 36-year-old driver who killed her, Jonathon Wrigley, crossed the centre-line on State Highway 2 near Dannevirke in Hawkes Bay about 9.50pm on Wednesday.

Mr Wrigley and his 2-year-old daughter, Aaliyah Waimarie Wrigley, were also killed instantly.

The crash - the worst in a spate of accidents on New Zealand roads in the past week - was the first fatal road accident at Dannevirke in more than two years.

The toddler's mother, Aroha Wrigley, is in Palmerston North Hospital with serious injuries and Ms Bramley's passenger, Lynda Parkes, 57, is in hospital with seven broken ribs.

The pair had been heading home after an evening at the Dannevirke Spinners and Weavers Club.

Barry Bulled, 62, had lived with Ms Bramley, who has no children and never married, for about 26 years. They met when she was working as a nurse at Hastings Hospital and Mr Bulled was admitted for drug and alcohol addiction.

He had nowhere to live so Ms Bramley, known to friends and her four siblings by her middle name Jean, let him live with her. He has not touched a drop of alcohol or taken drugs since which he says is thanks to Ms Bramley.

'She stuck with me through thick and thin. I will miss her terribly. She was with me as a support person for all those years."

Mr Bulled yesterday spoke of his last conversation with Ms Bramley and the moment he knew she had died when he saw the police on his doorstep.

"I said to her I'd keep the fire going so it was nice and warm for when she got back. I said, 'Have a good time darling.' That was the last thing I said to her.

"I was lying in bed and heard this bang bang. I thought, 'Is somebody trying to break in?' Then I realised it was 3am and Jean wasn't home. I yelled out, 'Who's there?' It was the police. As soon as I saw them I knew something had happened to Jean."

The pair lived on a lifestyle block in the small Hawkes Bay village of Ormondville with their beloved fox-terrier Spot. Ms Bramley also owned sheep and used their wool to spin yarn.

The crash was one of several on New Zealand roads which left 22 people dead in eight days. The road toll over Easter weekend was 12, the highest in 18 years.

In the latest crash, an 18-year-old Waimate man is dead after a collision between a car and a truck carrying two horses on a bridge about 20km north of Oamaru about 12.25pm yesterday.

The teenager was a passenger in the car, which was heading south on State Highway 1, at the north end of the Waitaki River bridge.

The driver of the car, also 18 and from Waimate, was flown to Dunedin Hospital with serious injuries.

Police said they wanted to speak to a woman in a grey or white car who may have been near the crash when it happened but left the scene.

Police yesterday named the 96-year-old woman who was killed when struck by a ute towing a trailer as she attempted to cross State Highway 33, in the western Bay of Plenty, about 5pm on Thursday while her 72-year-old son looked on.

The Mitsubishi which struck Joan Olive Tebbutt, who lived on the road, was being driven by a 72-year-old Pukehina man who had a passenger with him.