‘We should not be burying our children’
Grieving dad wants action on meth as he mourns his son
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He was a hearty worker but he got sick. The P made him sick.
Ron Gray, Jared Gray’s father
‘It all started with meth.” These are the words of a grieving father who lost his son in a car crash in central Rotorua this week — the second family tragedy he has suffered after losing another son and that son’s mother in another road smash.
Jared Gray died after his car hit a tree at about midnight on Monday. A police spokesman said yesterday an investigation into the crash was ongoing.
Ron Gray, in an interview with the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend, talked about his 35-year-old son’s life, saying Jared was a ”hearty young fella” but one who had battled a meth addiction.
“I want this to be something people learn from,” Gray said.
“He was a hearty worker but he got sick. The P made him sick.”
He hoped the suffering he and his family had endured would help send a message to others about the dangers of P.
“I hope this will be a lesson to all those young ones out there that are touching the methamphetamine. All you people selling it — you fellas are ruining our lives, our young ones’ lives, by selling this stuff.
“A lot of people, in Rotorua, Opo¯tiki, ¯ Whakata¯ne, Kawerau, are selling P. I see it everywhere . . . It has to stop.”
Jared was a popular man who made friends wherever he went, Gray said.
“I’ll remember my Jared as a real hearty young fella, a hard worker . . . He was popular and he touched so many lives. He worked down south, he worked in the Mount, in Rotorua, O¯ po¯ tiki, and in Aussie.
“He made friends everywhere and you can see by how many have turned out this week to say goodbye to him.”
Tragically, this was not the first time Gray has had to say farewell to a son early. “It rips your guts out,” he said.
“This is the second son I’ve lost. My first son, he and his mother got killed in
’82, a logging truck hit them on the Waipa corner after dropping me off for work. Now my second son, I lose him . . .
For me, my bloodline stops, I have no more bloodline. I carry our name, my son was the next one but now that bloodline has cut off. It’s over, I have no more.”
He said Jared had been eager to rehabilitate but his pleas for help often went unheard.
“He was screaming out for help.
“He wanted help but he couldn’t get help, he couldn’t find help. We, as a family, tried to help but our system lets us down.”
Gray said he was feeling for Jared’s mother, who flew home to Rotorua from Canberra, Australia, this week to say farewell to her son.
“They were really close,” he said. “Jared lived with her and his nan when he was over there. I feel really sorry for her, that she has to fly home to this.
“P is no good. It ruins lives, it ruined Jared Gray and he’s only a young man.”
Earlier this week, a family spokeswoman told the Rotorua Daily Post that Jared had “a heart of gold”.
“He was a good person. He would do anything for anyone within his power.”
Jared was “born and bred in Rotorua”, having attended Western Heights High School as a teenager.
“He did a lot of roofing, that was his main work,” she said.
“He had big dreams of having his own roofing business called Rock Solid Roofing, that was his dream.
“He was really well-loved.”
She said while all the family were devastated by Jared’s death, they had rallied together to support each other in their hour of need.
“We have family flying in from Mount Isa, Brisbane, Canberra. I haven’t been off the phone this morning, family and friends have all been calling. It does bring family together.”