Hororata crash: Father pleads guilty to dangerous driving causing death of two of his children

A father lost control of his car, crashing into a tree and killing two of his children when he hit his accelerator rather than the brakes after hitting a gravel surface at about 120kph.

Emergency services were called to the double-fatal crash on Rakaia Terrace Rd at 2.46pm on August 5 last year.

Khatricia Dulay, 19, and Ian Dulay, 17, died following the collision. Their elder sister, 22-year-old Christine Dulay, was critically injured as was their father’s wife, Virginita Torregosa. Their father, Ghomer Dulay, suffered moderate injuries.

On Friday, in the Christchurch District Court, Dulay pleaded guilty to two charges of driving a motor vehicle at a speed which was dangerous and thereby caused the death of Khatricia and Ian.

Ghomer Dulay, Khatricia Dulay, Christine Joy Dulay and Ian Dulay. Photo / Supplied

The 46-year-old also pleaded guilty to two charges alleging he drove a motor vehicle at a speed which was dangerous and caused injury to Christine and Torregosa.

According to the summary of facts, Ghomer Dulay and Torregosa planned to take the children to see snow for the first time.

The family left Christchurch about 1.50pm, after Christine and Khatricia finished work.

Torregosa was sitting in the front passenger seat, Christine was sitting on the right of the rear seat, Ian in the middle and Khatricia on the left of the rear passenger seat.

Dulay drove out of Christchurch on State Highway 76, following GPS instructions from a cellphone.

He continued southwest and arrived on Rakaia Terrace Rd driving northwest.

Rakaia Terrace Rd is a straight, flat rural road with a de-restricted speed limit and a chip-seal surface.

About 2.5km northwest of the intersection with Te Pirita Rd, the surface of the road changes from chip-seal to an unsealed gravel-on-dirt surface. About 150m before the surface change, there was a large warning gravel sign on either side of the road, facing southeast.

Dulay hit the accelerator rather than the brakes when he hit the gravel surface at about 120km/h.

About three seconds after entering the gravel section of the road, Dulay lost control of the vehicle. The car veered to the right-hand side of the road, across a grass area and the passenger side struck a tree. The vehicle spun around the tree and came to a stop on its roof.

Dulay got out of the car and pulled the victims Torregosa and Christine out of the car. He was unable to get Khatricia and Ian.

Khatricia and Ian were pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found their deaths were caused by high-energy impact injuries to the head, chest, pelvis and limbs.

Torregosa spent 10 nights in the hospital with impact injuries to her left side. Christine remained in hospital, the summary said, undergoing regular surgeries suffering a fractured eye socket and ribs, and injuries to her limbs and torso.

Dulay declined to comment to police.

Ian Dulay, 17, and Khatricia Dulay, 19, were killed in a crash near Rakaia.

‘I lost control’

Ghomer Dulay earlier told the Herald the family’s morning had been full of “laughing and joking” and cooking together, enjoying each other’s company after eight years living apart.

About 1.30pm they left their home in Christchurch to head to Mt Hutt.

“They wanted to see the snow. It’s their first time here and ... I want to make them happy.”

Just over an hour after they left home, Ghomer Dulay was driving along Rakaia Terrace Rd when he saw what he thought was a rabbit running across the road.

“That’s why I tried to brake and now sliding the car and zig-zag,” he said.

“I lost control.”

The car crashed. He blacked out, his next memory was waking up at the crash scene.

“My kids, my partner were yelling and crying. Me also.”

Khatricia Dulay (left) and her aunt Jinena Tats-Quin Abellera.

His car was “totally damaged” and he called 111 and told the operator “I need help because the car crashed”.

He then pulled out his partner and eldest child from the wreckage. He was unable to get his other two children out.

Dulay said he was crying and unsure what to do.

It was not until later that evening that police informed him two of his children were dead. His oldest child was critically injured as was his partner.

“It’s so sad when I got that news, I was crying,” he said.

“I have two kids gone.”

He said he wanted to tell his children he was “sorry” for what happened.

“I don’t want this to happen … they’re my blood,” he said.

His son was studying at the time. His daughters and his partner are all caregivers.

“Their dreams are nothing now, and also my dreams to give them a big future here.

“It’s gone.

“I want them to be happy, that’s why all their life I just follow them. ‘Pa, let’s go there, I want to see the snow, Pa let’s go there, I want to visit this’.”

The children’s mother, Gina Dulay, earlier spoke to the Herald from the Philippines, with a relative helping to translate.

She last saw her children on May 25 when they left the Philippines with their father for a new life.

“They migrate for good so they will have a better future.

“They want to have a better life, so they live in New Zealand.”

The decision to let them leave was “very hard”, she said. The children were also sad to be leaving their mother but “excited” for what lay ahead. Their father, who flew to the Philippines to pick them up, had lived in New Zealand since 2015.

She last spoke to her children a day before the crash. They were “very happy” with their new lives, and had spent some of their day at the mall.

The children had routinely called her since they arrived to provide updates and would also send her photos of their travels.

What had happened was “devastating”, the relative said.

“She’s so very, very sad when she heard the news and also said that she can’t live without her children.”

Her children were “so kind, loveable, jolly and generous”.

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.