KEY POINTS:
It would have been incredibly easy for Richelle Murphy's parents to blame the 15-year-old driver behind the wheel the day their daughter was killed.
For any parent trying to cope with the loss of a child, it's a natural reaction to lash out. But Warren and Barbara Murphy blame only their daughter. She made the choice, they say, not to wear a seatbelt - a choice that proved deadly.
At five o'clock on Sunday June 3, after packing their togs and a beachball, Richelle and a close friend - whom the Herald on Sunday has agreed not to name - said they were leaving for Muriwai, a popular beach on Auckland's west coast.
Warren kissed his daughter and said goodbye to the friend. He told them to have fun and drive carefully. Little did he know what meaning and finality his words would hold.
He awoke to the loud "dreaded bang" on the front door of his Ranui home just after 1am.
"At first, I thought it was my daughter knocking because she had lost her key, something she's done on numerous occasions.
"I saw a male police officer walk in, then a female and then a lady. All I said was 'Please, not my daughter'."
Nearly a month on Warren and Barbara can still barely believe their daughter - whom they describe as an "ambitious high achiever who loved nothing more than spending time with her mates" - is gone.
But they want it known that they bear "absolutely no animosity" towards her close friend who, when she apologised to them days after the accident, called herself a "murderer".
"The cause of the accident, I believe, is driver inexperience but the cause of the death was my daughter - the death was caused because she was not wearing a seatbelt," Warren said.
After drinking hot chocolate at a cafe in Muriwai the girls set off, with a carload of their male friends travelling behind their two-door 4WD.
The boys raised the alarm with emergency services at about 10pm.
Warren Murphy said that when the 1991 1590cc Suzuki Escudo - which was registered to the teenage driver - hit a bank on Coast Rd and rolled, Richelle was thrown out and ended up beneath the vehicle. Firefighters from Muriwai, Kumeu and Huapai spent an hour placing air bags under the Escudo and inflating them to lift it off her.
"One of the girls was screaming out that Richelle was [under the car] and ran over to her, but there was nothing they could do," Warren said.
"She told me they checked for a pulse and there was a slight one and then she lost it again."
The surviving three Year 11 girls were taken to North Shore Hospital with minor injuries.
The driver of the vehicle has not returned to Massey High School since the fatal accident, and her mother Brenda Burdett said that she's not sure if she would.
The aftermath of the tragedy has been "indescribable" and "horrendous", especially for the passengers.
She told the Herald on Sunday her daughter was too upset to speak about the incident, saying: "She has been through enough. In my eyes she has gone through something that no adult should have to."
Despite the accident, she does not entirely agree with increasing the legal age to drive from 15. "We have all had our licences at that age without any problem," Burdett said.
"At the end of the day it was just an accident. Unfortunately they weren't wearing seatbelts but teenagers will be teenagers and everyone in that car had a responsibility to wear one," he said.
The Serious Crash Unit has not yet decided whether to charge the teenage driver, who was on a restricted licence - a class which prohibits the holder from carrying passengers without a supervisor aged 20 or over who has held a licence for more than two years - and such an announcement could be weeks away.
Acting Sergeant Colin Nuttall last week confirmed more witnesses needed to be interviewed and he refused to comment what would affect a decision to lay charges.
The Herald on Sunday has now learned through a source close to the investigation that toxicology reports showed neither the driver nor Murphy had consumed alcohol before the crash.
Richelle is survived by older brothers Tristan, 23, and Allan, 20, and her step-siblings, Amy, 20, and Michael, 14.
Heartless crime
If losing their daughter wasn't bad enough, now this.
Less than a month after Warren and Barbara Murphy said farewell to their daughter Richelle, the couple have been hit by "heartless" burglars who ransacked the 16-year-old's bedroom.
They stole a bone koru and piece of art given to the family at Richelle's funeral.
The offender also vandalised a collection of cards and photos that were displayed in the bedroom.
After her death the parents decided to leave Richelle's room the way it was when she died.
Stepmother Barbara said if she caught the person responsible she would "hang their necks in a noose" outside their home.
The family have ruled out the possibility the theft was linked to the teenager's death.
