Leanne Emery rescued an elderly couple from the side of the road when their tyre went flat and then paid for their motel accommodation in Tauranga.
An elderly couple are heralding a stranger as their guardian angel after she attempted to replace their blown tyre in the pouring rain before putting them up in a hotel for the night.
"It was a wet and soaky night," 78-year-old Hemana Eruera said, describing the details of June 23when the car tyre went flat while they were driving down a Tauranga side street.
Hemana and wife Sarah, both from Te Teko, were on their first leg of a long-awaited trip to see The Lion King in Auckland, which was being performed the next evening, with whānau.
The couple left their home behind schedule and by the time they drove through some roadworks in Tauranga darkness had set in.
"We heard a big thud but we didn't know what it was," Hemana said.
Hemana was ready to begin the slow process of changing the tyre while suffering sciatica back pains when another pair of headlights appeared.
"She just turned up behind me. The ground was soggy but she got on her hands and knees to help with the tyre," Hemana said.
"We thought she was a guardian angel."
Their saviour was not an apparition but single mum Leanne Emery.
Emery was on her way to the supermarket when she spotted the couple stranded by the side of the road.
"I thought they might not be okay," Emery said. "If it were my nan, I'd want someone to pull over and help."
Not only was Leanne Emery a roadside angel to Hemana and Sarah Eruera, she also paid for their motel stay. Photo / George Novak
Emery's good deed did not stop there. When she saw the car's spare tyre was also low on air, Emery insisted they follow her to the nearest garage to test it.
"We tried to fill [the tyre] but the air was still coming out of it," Emery said.
