Family mourn girl killed in drive

Kasa Paunga's parents urge adults to be especially vigilant around cars.

Ten-year-old Kasa Paunga told her parents they didn't need to worry about money because when she grew up, she was going to support them.

But the Otara schoolgirl never got the chance to grow up. She was killed two years ago in a driveway accident.

An inquest into her death yesterday found that Kasa died from a laceration of the heart and left lung as a result of the accident on September 22, 2004.

Kasa and her father, Tavita, were at her aunt's place in Otara when the accident happened.

Mr Paunga parked in the drive but was asked to move his car so another relative could get out. The car would not start, so Mr Paunga worked on the battery, then leaned in the driver's door and turned the key.

Mr Paunga did not know his daughter had moved and was standing between the front of the car and the garage.

From what police can establish, the car, still in gear, lurched forward and pinned Kasa against the garage. She died at the scene.

Mr Paunga was not drunk and held a full driver's licence. Police decided not to charge charge him in connection with his daughter's death.

Kasa's mother, Katimeli, told the Herald yesterday that not a day went by that she and her husband did not grieve for their only child. "Every dream I want to see her face but I can't. She was a good girl, an angel."

Mrs Paunga said her husband did not like visiting relatives at the house where Kasa died because of the painful memories.

The pair were very close - Mr Paunga would even go to her school and have lunch with her.

Writing about her father at school, Kasa said: "I love my dad because everything I want my dad is there to give me."

The Paungas spoke to the Herald in the hope it would prevent a similar tragedy.

They urge adults to be especially vigilant around cars and always note where children are around drives and roads.

* Last month, a resource kit of posters, pamphlets, and stickers in several languages, designed to prevent driveway accidents, was launched in Manukau.


DRIVEWAY ACCIDENTS

* An average of two children each month are admitted to Starship Hospital after being injured in a driveway accident.

* Between January 1998 and October 2001, 75 children were killed or injured in Auckland driveways.