Stan Davies says his wife, Maureen, was "one of the most lovely people you would ever wish to meet". Photo / Supplied
Stan Davies says his wife, Maureen, was "one of the most lovely people you would ever wish to meet". Photo / Supplied
Husband still struggling to cope months after woman high on P smashed into wife.
A heartbroken husband does not know what to do with himself after the love of his life was killed when a 37-year-old grandmother high on methamphetamine crashed into her.
Stan Davies says he still struggles with the death of his wife, Maureen, whose vehicle was rear-ended by a car driven by Janine Elizabeth Carter on January 30 this year.
Yesterday, Carter admitted the rarely laid charge of driving with evidence of a controlled drug - P and codeine - causing death, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' prison or a $20,000 fine.
Mrs Davies, the mother of three and grandmother of five, had recently retired as a registered nurse. She had lived in Hamilton for the previous five years but had spent a lot of her working life in Auckland.
Mr Davies, 83, said they had been married for 19 years.
"Maureen was one of the most lovely people you would ever wish to meet. She nursed for over 50 years, she was a district nurse in Beachlands [East Auckland]; that's how we met. She was taking care of me."
Mr Davies said his life wasn't the same any more.
"Maureen needed me and I needed Maureen, that's the guts of it. I'm just a lonely old fella now. True."
He last saw his wife before she set off to Tauranga for a lunch with her old nursing colleagues.
"If I had gone with her it would never have happened, just because it's a different set of circumstances. And I said to her, 'Now you drive carefully.' "I said it to the wrong person, didn't I?"
Mr Davies said he was shocked when he learned his wife's injuries included 12 broken ribs.
"There were 11 people working around Maureen's bed all doing something and on eight occasions she had to be manually resuscitated, so you can imagine [the severity of her injuries]."
One of her best friends - who did not want to be named - said she hoped Carter would realise how much her actions had impacted on the lives of everyone associated with Mrs Davies.
"I'm torn, really torn, between having lost the dearest friend I have ever had and what this poor woman is going through herself.
"I haven't forgiven her but I can see where she's coming from ... she's got to live with that for the rest of her life, but then the kids' mother has been taken away from them too. It's just so sad."
An emotional Janine Elizabeth Carter outside the Hamilton District Court today after admitting driving while under the influence of P.
She said that until recently her friend had been working part-time for the Bay of Plenty District Health Board at one of its aged care facilities in Tauranga.
Her friend was returning from a lunch "and she never got home. So that made it even sadder because she had such a lovely day".
Carter's driving on the day of the crash was so bad that members of the public had called police. Officers had been dispatched to find her.
