Close call as fleeing car hits home
Woman moves from couch seconds after hearing sirens because of earlier crash into her neighbour’s unit
Awoman had been watching TV in her lounge seconds before a car smashed through the wall of her Hamilton house on Saturday night. Robyn Wyber, 62, heard sirens blaring and immediately thought to get up from her couch and head to the back of the house.
The next moment there was a massive bang as the vehicle, whose driver had done a U-turn before an alcohol checkpoint, ploughed through the wall and she fell on her stomach on the hall floor.
Wyber was shaken but escaped injury. Another person was taken to hospital in a moderate condition.
Hamilton City Council said staff would meet Wyber and neighbour Gary Houghton today or tomorrow following the crashes.
Family and friends are now rallying around Wyber as she comes to terms with what happened.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Brian Mourits said Wyber had been on edge ever since Houghton, her next-door neighbour, had a car crash into his house on Mother’s Day in May last year.
His wife, Maureen, died just days later of a heart attack.
Mourits said Wyber was watching television last night when she heard the sirens. Since her neighbour’s crash she would always instinctively move to the rear of the house.
However, this time she made it barely a few steps down her hall when her unit was shaken by a massive bang.
Wyber told the Herald the impact shook her house so much that the ceiling access cover in her bathroom at the rear of the house fell to the floor.
Mourits said a security guard was placed at the scene overnight, but Wyber hadn’t been able to sleep.
Wyber wasn’t sure what she’d do now, but Mourits said she hadn’t felt safe in her own home since last year’s crash.
He was contemplating setting up a crowdfunding account to help Wyber with her insurance as her car had also been hit three times while parked in various parts of the city.
Waikato police Senior Sergeant Ray Malcolmson said police noticed a car do a U-turn near an alcohol checkpoint in Heaphy Tce, Claudelands, about 11pm.
Officers attempted to pursue the
Hcar but stopped because the driver was travelling at excessive speed. They later discovered the accident site when they reached the roundabout at Heaphy Tce and Clarkin Rd.
The car also clipped another vehicle on the way down Heaphy Tce, police said, hitting Houghton’s front concrete fence.
“The car that was clipped has gone through a fence, before the offending vehicle has come to rest in the lounge room of another property,” Malcolmson said.
“A woman sitting inside the lounge was shaken, but fortunately uninjured. The man whose car was hit wasn’t seriously injured, but he was checked out at hospital.”
A St John Ambulance spokeswoman confirmed they transported one patient to Waikato Hospital in a moderate condition before midnight.
The driver of the vehicle that hit Wyber’s house was detained and breath-tested by police. Watch the video interview at nzherald.co.nz
Houghton told the Herald the crash had brought the horrible memories of last year’s crash flooding back.
“It brings it all back. I just feel a bit wet behind the eye.”
Houghton’s daughter, Niki was annoyed that Hamilton City Council had not done more to protect the homes since installing the roundabout a couple of years ago. In the past year, Wyber has had a car crash into her fence — which was just repaired two weeks ago. Houghton has also had a car crash into his house, his letterbox got taken out in another crash and now his fence has been hit again. Niki Houghton said she just wanted her father to “feel safe and secure and it just seems that nobody [at council] is really interested, because if you’re elderly you don’t really have any power”. Hamilton City Council’s general manager of infrastructure, Chris Allen, said council staff would visit the scene today or tomorrow and talk with residents about what could be done. “Nevertheless it appears that this crash is again the result of antisocial behaviour and excessive speed. It’s really disappointing when that happens.” The council had visited the scene after previous crashes and minor alterations had been made, which included new signs. Additional reporting Ophelia Buckleton