Parents angry as death inquiry stretches on

Father Bashkim Gashi (R), mother Hatixhe and brother Leonard have been contacted only once since Leonida was killed. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The parents of a teenager who died after being dragged hundreds of metres by a bus are furious they are still waiting for answers.

Leonida Gashi, 18, was knocked down as she left the Lantern Festival in central Auckland on Waitangi Day.

Witnesses said she tripped and fell in front of a Metrolink bus before being pulled 400m along Wellesley St.

Leonida's friends, passers-by and motorists all tried in vain to attract the driver's attention, and she died in hospital early the following morning.

Her parents Bashkim and Hatixhe are still struggling to cope with their daughter's death and are angry the police investigation has taken so long.

"They said it would take two months and nearly six months later they are still not finished," said Bashkim.

"The case hasn't happened in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no witnesses ... but we have no answers."

The family are also angry with Metrolink, who they say have not been in contact since representatives visited their Onehunga home on February 9.

"I understand it's not easy for the company, but still they needed to contact us. I am very angry at them," said Bashkim.

Constable Paul Simcox, of the Ponsonby Serious Crash Unit, said police finished their investigation about two months ago and are waiting for their legal team to decide whether to prosecute the driver.

Metrolink spokeswoman Siobhan O'Donovan refused to say if the NZ Bus-owned company was conducting its own investigation or if the driver was still working. She also refused to say if changes had been made to driver procedures.

But NZ Bus general manager Zane Fulljames said, like the Gashi family, the company was awaiting the outcome of the investigation.

"We understand that this is a complicated matter which requires time to resolve.

"We met with the Gashi family shortly before Leonida's funeral to express our deepest sympathies, and attended her funeral to pay our respects."

Fulljames said he left contact details with the family, and members of their Albanian community.

"We were assured that should the family wish us to contact them, this would be communicated through the community contacts."

Hatixhe said she never stopped thinking about Leonida, who attended Onehunga High and was looking forward to starting a cartoon animation course this year.

She dreamed of working on a Peter Jackson production and her family still has books full of her sketches.

"I can't sleep ... my daughter was smart, beautiful," said Hatixhe. "She loved her family, her brothers, she was a very good girl.

"I loved her so much and I miss her so much. I will never forget her ... now she is an angel."

The couple and their sons, Ardian and Leonard, all spent time with Leonida at the hospital before she died.

"I looked at my beautiful daughter ... her injuries, her arm broken, her face ... it was hard for my family to take," Hatixhe said.

The couple, who moved to Auckland from Kosovo in 2000, have been unable to work since Leonida's death.

"I had just finished a retail course and I was looking for a job," said Bashkim.

"But ... you need concentration to find a job. It's too much for us, especially my wife, it's very upsetting.

"Our lives have changed forever. We are still so shocked."

But the family is unsure if they want to meet the bus driver. "We just need to know what happened to Leonida ... it is my right," said Bashkim.