KEY POINTS:
The family of a 9-year-old boy left for dead after a hit-and-run incident outside their home are so traumatised by the experience they are moving house.
Tawhiri Moka was dragged about 15m underneath a Mitsubishi Pajero as it smashed through a fence outside his Manurewa, Auckland, home last month. Left with black rubber-tyre marks across his chest and arms, the youngster suffered a split liver, heavily bruised lung, broken leg and ligament damage to his neck and back. He is out of intensive care, but will be bedridden for two months with a "halo" brace to protect his damaged neck.
His mother, Kimani White, had feared Tawhiri would be permanently paralysed until scans revealed a better prognosis. Now she has asked Housing New Zealand Corporation if her family can move closer to Tawhiri's grandmother's home in Otara.
"That place has bad memories for us. We are terrified by what happened, we don't want to go back there," White said.
She has filed the necessary paperwork and is confident she and her three children - with one on the way - will move to a new home soon.
Tawhiri is recovering in Starship hospital, where the walls are covered with get-well wishes from staff and friends from Manurewa East School. He is the reigning Connect Four champion in the ward - he beat his mother and a hapless Herald on Sunday reporter.
White is worried about how Tawhiri will cope with being unable to move, as he was extremely active and a "try-scoring machine" for the Otara Scorpions under-10 league team.
Tawhiri's kicking tee and ball are by his bed and he has been buoyed by a promise players from the Warriors NRL team will soon visit him.
However, White is furious that the man accused of mowing down her son and allegedly fleeing the accident scene is free on bail.
Faaua Faataape, 41, was arrested and appeared in Manukau District Court on Friday on charges of driving while disqualified, reckless driving causing injury and failing to stop and render assistance. "I'm really worried that he's out in the community and just lives around the corner. I'm really angry about it," White said.
Her partner, Jerry Moka, was teaching Tawhiri's 5-year-old brother Manaakitia to ride his new bike in the driveway when the truck came towards them at speed.
"I saw it flying and wiping out those fence posts like nothing," Moka told the New Zealand Herald. He grabbed his youngest son and the pair leaped away as the truck flew past them and stopped at his letterbox before being driven off.
Moka found Tawhiri unconscious and bleeding among smashed fencing. A pregnant White ran outside. "We were freaked out, the fence was like matchsticks. I was screaming and crying and shouting, just devastated at seeing my son like that."
As soon as he regained consciousness Tawhiri asked his mother to look for his Chuck Taylor shoes - found 15m from the crash site.
White believes the driver hit her son after an incident in which his friend had been cheeky to the driver's son. Detectives have been unable to substantiate those claims and no further charges are expected.
