Devastation of fatal crash haunts mum 20 years on
BOBBIE Henry still has days where she can’t control the tears.
In a few weeks it will be 20 years since her daughter Kelly was killed in a car crash.
Not a day goes by when she doesn’t think about her 17year-old girl taken too soon.
Kelly was one of three teenage passengers in a car that hit a pole at Tanah Merah on November 8, 1998, with such force that the engine was torn out and thrown 20m into a nearby yard.
The car was driven by a young man who had been drinking and was speeding at the time. The group had been to a party and he was driving them home.
Kelly had dreamed of becoming a hairdresser. She was just a week shy of graduating from high school.
Rescue crews had to cut her body from the wreck. The others in the car were injured but survived.
Ms Henry now dedicates her time to Citizens Against Road Slaughter (CARS), for which she is secretary and a passionate advocate for road safety.
“If they kill themselves that’s sad enough. They’re destroying their families’ lives. If they kill someone else they’re destroying a whole group of people’s lives,” Ms Henry said yesterday.
“When we lost our daughter it just didn’t kill Kelly, it destroyed our family and the greater family as well, all of her friends and everyone she went to school with. It was an amazing ripple effect.
“It’s something you never forget. You adjust to be able to live and go on, but you never, ever, ever, get over it.
“There are days, even now, 20 years on, I can just sit down and cry for a whole day, that’s all due to one boy killing my daughter.” When the Gold Coast Bulletin told Ms Henry about the actions of the Mexican Hoon Cartel, she was shocked.
“Unfortunately these young people, while they think it’s cool and fun and are getting some social media hype, it’s just disrespectful. Not only are they not concerned about their lives, but other people’s,’’ she said. “It’s devastating to think they don’t care about themselves or anyone else.
“These people would be the first to complain about police being unfair. They’re stupid.”