'I didn't know my baby wasn't coming home'

Hundreds of mourners attended Krystell Burns' funeral. Photo / Supplied

The parents of a girl killed in a car accident say the driver has already been punished, but they are still not ready to face her.

Krystell Erana Burns, 18, and Corina Rameka, 17, were killed on Friday last week when the car they were in went out of control at a curve on Anzac Rd, Whangarei and slid 50m off the road and down a bank.

They were in the back seat and were not wearing seatbelts.

The 16-year-old driver and two other girls were cut from the vehicle with only minor injuries.

Krystell's father, Robert Burns, said that although charges might be laid against the driver, she had already been punished by losing her friends.

"It's hard. She's got to live with this, she's already been punished.

"But [my wife] Joanne's not ready to see her yet. Not yet, anyway."

Krystell, who was taking a hospitality and tourism course in Whangarei, was buried next to her grandfather in Moerewa on Monday. A tangi for Corina was held on Tuesday.

Joanne Burns said the turnout for Krystell's funeral - hundreds attended - was a testament to the person she was. "She was always making sure everybody else was okay, before thinking of herself. When she was younger ... she used to go around to kids and say, 'Come here, let me wipe your nose.'

"She'd come home with a green T-shirt - yuk. I'd tell her off but that's how she was, caring."

Whangarei police said the 16-year-old had been the sober driver for the night and was taking the group - who had been drinking at a party - into town when the accident happened.

Alcohol breath tests returned negative results. Speed was the key factor.

The day Krystell was killed, Mrs Burns met the sober driver and warned her to be careful.

"We [mother and daughter] went shopping together - that was the last thing we did together - and that girl came to pick her up. I didn't know her, so I grilled her about being careful - not to drink, did she have a licence.

"I said goodbye to Krystell. She said, 'I love you, Mum.' I didn't know my baby wasn't coming back home."

Mr Burns said he would miss his only daughter, who was "a bit of a hard case".

"When I went to see her [after she died], I said to her, 'I told you to come home. But not this way.' I'll miss her. She was definitely a daddy's girl."

Whangarei police said a coroner's report and tests from the vehicle would help determine if the driver would be charged.