Grieving father demands answers

One of the teenagers who died in the Hamilton bridge tragedy told her parents she was going to the pictures - a lie that almost certainly cost her her life.

Sandra Tungia, 16, died along with friends Kristen Armstrong, 14, and Hayley Forbes, 15, after they were picked up from town early Saturday morning by a car that later crashed through a bridge and plummeted 20m into the Waikato River.

The driver, Whiti Hepi, 21, and front-seat passenger Andrew Kemp, 18, escaped with minor injuries.

In an exclusive interview with the Herald on Sunday, Sandra's father, Ivan Tamehana, recalled how on the last night he saw his daughter alive she asked him for money to go to the pictures with her friends, sisters Hayley and Selina and their niece Kristen.

The next time he saw her, she was dead in a morgue. Her body was battered and bruised, and she smelled of alcohol.

There have been rumours the girls were drinking in bars and nightclubs before three of them were picked up from Victoria St early Saturday morning.

Mr Tamehana is desperate to know what happened that night.

"I can promise you this. I'll get to the bottom of it. It's my mission." He is angry that Mr Hepi has not approached him or his wife Lynne to apologise, and has appealed for the young man to contact him.

"I want to look in his eyes," Mr Tamehana said. "I want to see how sorry he really is. And then I'll forgive him. Maybe. But there's a time limit. He'd better get here soon."

Mr Hepi broke down during a television interview last week and admitted responsibility for the death of the three girls.

Sandra, of Tainui/Tuhoe descent, was cremated on Wednesday. Hayley and Kristen, both of Tainui descent, were buried on Thursday during a tangi held at Aruka Marae near Kawhia. Described as more like sisters than aunt and niece, the girls were buried next to each other in a single grave.

Mana Forbes, Hayley's father's uncle, described Hayley as a"fun-loving, warm-hearted" girl and Kristen as more "reticent".

Police have not yet laid charges in the case but have confirmed that the driver's blood alcohol level, taken many hours after the accident, could be used to calculate the level at the time of the smash.

They also said any bars found to be selling alcohol to underage patrons would be prosecuted.

Tai Hepi, a spokesman for the Hepi family, said they had been advised not to comment.

SANDRA FORCED TO GROW UP TOO YOUNG

Sandra Tungia spent much of her short life around alcohol and violence.

Speaking the day after his eldest daughter was cremated, Ivan Tamehana admitted that Sandra had watched for years as he and his wife Lynne drank themselves into sometimes violent oblivion.

As the years passed, Sandra began taking on the adult responsibilities her parents failed to assume, cooking and cleaning and looking after her younger siblings.

"She was a good kid", said Mr Tamehana. "She grew up too fast. She was a mother and a father."

Mrs Tamehana agreed. "She was a beautiful girl. She knew a lot forher age."

More than six years ago, before Sandra was 10, Mr Tamehana checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation centre when he realised how much damage he was causinghis family and how much they were suffering. He stopped drinking and so did his wife.

Since then, they have stridently warned all their children - especially Sandra as she headed into her teenage years - about the dangers of alcohol.

"We were dead against it," said Mr Tamehana.

But against their wishes, Sandra would frequently get drunk with friends.

"We couldn't stop them," he said.

- Herald on Sunday