Driver, 20, charged over teen road deaths

A cross at the site where the two girls were killed. Photo / Alan Gibson

A man will appear in court today charged with the deaths of two teenage girls in a Christmas Day crash in the Bay of Plenty.

The 20-year-old, from Auckland, faces two counts of manslaughter after police interviewed him when he was discharged from Tauranga Hospital.

A police spokeswoman confirmed he was driving the maroon Honda in which sisters Merepeka Morehu Clark, 14, and Brooklyn Morehu Clark, 13, sitting in the back seat, were killed.

They died as the vehicle slammed into a Mitsubishi ute and rolled onto its roof on Welcome Bay Rd, near Tauranga, at 4.20pm.

The driver of the ute, Whakatane 39-year-old Brett McCready, has been discharged from hospital and was yesterday recovering with family.

Mr McCready is the uncle of Tauranga 17-year-old Jareth Parris, who was killed with two mates in a crash in Queensland last month.

His father, Graeme McCready, said his son had been on his way to his home in the Tauranga suburb of Ohauiti for Christmas dinner when he phoned to say he had been in an accident.

"I hadn't been so happy to see my Brett in 39 years as I was on Christmas Day," he told the Herald yesterday.

He said it was difficult telling his daughter, and Jareth's mother, Nikki Parris, who had been in Rotorua for Christmas. "She jumped in the car and came right over ... The whole family's been with him, and they're all pretty relieved."

Merepeka and Brooklyn were from Tauranga, and it is thought they were also going home after spending Christmas with family. A tangi for the sisters, who leave behind three siblings, will be held at Welcome Bay's Tahuwhakatiki Marae tomorrow.

A pair of crosses bearing the girls' names have been erected at the crash site.

Friends and whanau have reached out to their mother, Phillipa Morehu, on Facebook. Condolence messages were still being posted yesterday.

"I feel very sorry for your 2 beautiful daughters died ... I love them forever in my heart," one person wrote.

Police still wish to speak with anyone who may have seen the Honda, a black Mitsubishi Lancer and another blue Honda, travelling in Orion Drive, Waikite Rd and Welcome Bay Rd between 3.30pm and 4.30pm on Christmas Day.

* They should phone Tauranga police on (07) 577 4300.