Life of promise cut short by 'boy-racers'

Reporoa College principal Kris Bhatt has an unclaimed certificate on his desk.

The recipient - Year 7 student Aaliyah Cara Mita - died on Sunday from injuries she received in a road smash in Rotorua last week.

Aaliyah - known as Lily to her family and friends - was a back-seat passenger in a car that crashed along Owhata Rd about 7.10pm last Thursday. She died three days later.

Lily was to have received a Strive certificate for doing well in all school subjects at her school's end-of-term assembly last Friday.

Mr Bhatt said Lily was a "very talented young student" and a popular girl.

He said representatives from the school would attend her tangi today and would present her family with her Strive certificate.

Owhata Rd residents said they heard screeching tyres and the impact of the crash.

One resident feared there might be more crashes in the street if speed bumps aren't put in place.

Another said she was sitting on her front steps when she heard a vehicle coming down the road.

"I heard a boy racer-type car.

"There was one or two seconds of screeching tyres and then we heard the impact."

The woman, who is a nurse, went down the hill to the car, as did her husband and some of their neighbours.

Two young men were outside the car trying to get a third person out.

"We just heard this guy yelling, 'Help me get my mate out of the car'," she said. "I could see the flames coming out of the bonnet."

The woman said she couldn't get the doors open and she thought she would have to climb into the car to get to the third person.

"But I saw the flames and I smelt the smoke and I just couldn't do it.

"One of the boys got her out and he carried her across the road to the grass on the other side. We just tried to calm the boys down because they were young and freaking out."

Meanwhile, the woman's husband and another person put the flames out with a hose.

"We had to move her because we were scared the car was going to blow up. Just from hearing the impact, I knew it wasn't going to be good."

Another Owhata Rd resident said she saw the crash. "I could hear the car coming down [Owhata Rd] so I opened the curtains... and I saw the car crash into the rock. I heard the noise - it was just like the ads on TV. The impact, and then the silence."

Police are still investigating the crash but Senior Sergeant Denton Grimes said speed was a likely factor.

He said the occupants of the car were not wearing seatbelts.

The front-seat passenger suffered minor scratches and the driver suffered a broken ankle and bruising, Mr Grimes said.

"This is a very unfortunate loss of life.

"It shows motorists the importance of driving to the speed limit and wearing seatbelts."

Mr Grimes said police would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the collision or saw the vehicle before the impact.

He said the police urged Owhata Rd residents and people involved in crashes on that piece of road to report them.

Some information about previous crashes there had only just come through to the police as a result of Thursday's crash.

- APN