Losing half your family in a night
It’s a year and a half since their deaths, but Anah Mcdonald still doesn’t know why her husband and son died.
Aaron and Cruz, 7, were killed instantly when Aaron’s truck left State Highway 2 and veered down a steep bank near Norsewood in southern Hawke’s Bay in the middle of the night on January 23 last year.
Mcdonald would take Cruz on his trips during the school holidays. Cruz was mad about trucks, and wanted to be a truck driver when he grew up, just like his dad.
The trip would have been Cruz’s last for the summer holidays.
The crash happened on a road known as Butcher’s Creek at 12.30am. The police serious crash unit investigated and delivered its findings to the coroner, but the case remains active.
Mcdonald is aware she may never know exactly what took place.
However, she’s chosen to speak about what losing half her family is like in the hope it may stop other road deaths.
‘‘Aaron was the most amazing driver. He was so safe, he never took risks,’’ she said. ‘‘He knew the road like the back of his hand. He was super safe – like a nana of a driver.’’
He had worked for Mcdonald’s brother, Tim Greaves, for his trucking company for 10 years.
‘‘He had been covering for ... one of Tim’s employees who’d gone off on holiday. And Aaron didn’t want to do it at first because it takes him away from home.’’
Day by day, life is getting a little easier for Mcdonald, but it will never be the same. She was dealing with two different types of grief – one for her husband and one for Cruz.
‘‘Every day is hideous. We will never get over it.
‘‘The whole family is mentally and emotionally broken over it. It’s turned our lives upside down.’’