Whanau farewell three victims of horror weekend collision

The family who lost four members in a car crash farewelled three of their loved ones at a tangi yesterday, before attending a funeral service for another relative.

The three-car collision about 20km north of Taupo on Friday left five people dead and three injured.

Georgina Taitapanui, 45, her daughter Anna Marie Kemp, 22, and her adopted son Ratapu, 3, were mourned by a congregation of 200 at a private service at Kutarere Marae in the Bay of Plenty.

Afterwards, the road between Opotiki and Taneatua was closed for about five minutes while the coffins were carried across to the family urupa to be buried.

The congregation then attended another funeral in Waimana, 16km south of Kutarere, for a relative who died of cancer last week.

Anna Marie Kemp's partner, Wellis Lauano, 23, from Manurewa, and Turangi man Peter Pie, 42, also died in the crash.

Mr Pie's daughter Kristin-Leigh, 11, was badly injured.

The 2-year-old son of Ms Kemp and Mr Lauano, Amethyst, and the boy's uncle Kawana Kemp, 9, were rescued from the burning wreckage by Mike O'Leary, an off-duty police inspector, and his 15-year-old son Conor.

The Hastings operations manager, who is still nursing burn wounds to his left hand, said he had thought about attending the tangi but was too shaken to drive.

"Frankly I don't really desire to drive my car any great distances at the moment. It's really a wake-up call for all road users about driving to the conditions and it's just really a reminder that you can be innocently going about your business and you can be dragged into an unpleasant event."

Mr O'Leary wanted to emphasise that the rescue was a team effort and said others who helped had not been acknowledged. He said he felt for Mrs Pie, who had "lost a husband and her daughter's lost a father".

His family had been "overwhelmed by support".

"I haven't been to work yet and I know my work has largely protected me from all sorts of things and I'm sure my emails will be full.

"We've had friends, colleagues, people we don't even know being very kind with cards, flowers."


The crash was one of several road accidents that killed 15 people within 72 hours.