Mother to hit-and-run driver: I want to kill you

An upset and angry Rute Tuinukuafe with injured son Joseph. Picture / Richard Robinson

Rute Tuinukuafe wants to kill the man who struck her little boy with his car, flipped him into the air, and drove off without stopping.

"I'm so mad with him," she said at Starship Hospital last night.

"How could he do this to 2 1/2-year-old child, hit him and run off?"

Watching over her son Joseph Tuinukuafe's bruised body, the Sandringham mother admits that her emotions are running high over the incident.

As she pats his bandaged arm, carefully avoiding all the IV lines, she speaks of a more realistic wish for the man who left Joseph lying unconscious in the middle of the road.

"When I first saw my son in the hospital I thought I wanted to kill that man. I know I can't. I don't know what the reason is that he just took off.

"I say just come forward. I will have some peace then."

Witnesses say it is a miracle Joseph was not killed when he was hit at the Pine St and Oxton Rd intersection outside his home on Saturday night.

His parents were at a function and Joseph - along with his brothers, sister and cousins - was being looked after by a 36-year-old uncle.

It is believed the uncle was tending to a sick baby when Joseph wandered onto the road, just before 7pm.

Neighbours Theresa and Tevita say they heard a "dull thud" as the accident happened.

"I just knew when we ran on to the road that we were going to find something terrible," said Theresa.

A 9-year-old boy who witnessed part of the accident saw Joseph fly so far and high across the street he thought the toddler had been thrown from the car window.

Tevita, who was first on the scene, said he found Joseph lying face down on the road. "There was no movement," said Tevita.

"I didn't touch him because I didn't know what was wrong."

Other neighbours quickly arrived with a blanket and stayed with Joseph, who started convulsing, until the ambulance arrived.

His parents arrived at Starship Hospital soon after to find him with cuts all over his face and body, possible liver damage and a torn thumb that will require surgery.
Joseph's brother, 10-year-old Ifa, said he felt sad for Joseph, who was "normally cheeky", and and he described the driver who hit him as a "jerk".

Sergeant Phil Dean, from the Avondale police, said the driver would have known he had hit something and would have seen damage on his car when he stopped.

He appealed for the driver, described as a Caucasian man in his 20s, to hand himself into the police.

Anyone with information can phone Avondale Police on 820 5700.

The driver

* A Caucasian man

* In his mid-20s,

* Light-brown hair

The car

* Silver or grey Honda, possibly a Civic. Square-shaped, mid-late 1980s model;

* Will have damage at the front, including broken lights;

* Rear sidelight not working