She begged her brother to stay home
Big gusts make way for warmer week
Tui Hohepa begged her drunk brother not to get in the car. The 32-year-old lived with her sibling, Shane HohepaLennane, his fiancee and another couple in a Hamilton flat.
Hohepa told the Herald her brother had been drinking all day on Wednesday.
When one of the flatmates got home, it was suggested they visit a friend in Cambridge.
There were four people in the car — Hohepa-Lennane, the couple and another man.
Hohepa said she tried to stop her brother from getting in the car.
“That day, I had seen him before he left. We told him not to go, but he was very drunk and very stubborn. Very stubborn.
“When he was going to do something he was going to do it.”
But the car in which HohepaLennane was a rear-seat passenger crashed about 6.45pm on Scott St, near the intersection with Moore St, in Leamington, a suburb of Cambridge.
He died at the scene and the three others were badly injured.
Police allege the driver was over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Hohepa hoped others could learn from what happened.
“Let it be a lesson to others. Everyone has a choice. Do the right thing.”
She first heard about the crash when she got a phone call from a flatmate’s brother about 8.30pm and went straight to hospital with her brother’s fiancee, Alisha Eichler.
Hohepa said the female passenger was still battling serious injuries and had many broken bones. Her partner had had at least four operations, but was walking and talking.
The other man had minor injuries but was also hospitalised.
Hohepa said she would always remember her brother as a joker and someone who loved his family.
“He was a quirky kinda cheeky little boy. He liked to crack a joke and put his laugh at the end, ‘ ha ha ha’,” she said.
“My brother was a very simple man. He enjoyed staying home. He loved his PlayStation, definitely loved his beer, he loved his family and loved his sisters more.
“He had a big heart and was always forgiving.”
Hohepa-Lennane was one of nine siblings.
Another sister, Ebony HohepaLennane, 30, said the death was still sinking in.
“It still feels like a dream, even though I’ve seen him [at tangi] it’s sort of like an out-of-body experience.”
She said he had been looking forward to marrying his fiancee in December. Golfers ran for cover as hoardings went flying, drivers battled fierce wind gusts and Civil Defence warned people to tie down loose objects as a storm packing galeforce winds hit the upper North Island last night.
In the Waitakere Ranges, a slip closed Scenic Drive just south of the intersection with West Coast Rd. Contractors will assess the damage this morning.
The MetService warned homeowners to secure trampolines and to look out for flying tree branches as westerly gales swept across the region. Winds up to 120km/h were forecast overnight.
Wind gusts of 110km/h were recorded on the outskirts of Auckland by 6pm, with severe weather warnings issued for Northland through to the Waikato.
Strong winds and driving rain disrupted the NZ Women’s Golf Open in South Auckland in the late afternoon. Players ran for cover at the Windross Farm course after squall sent hoardings flying. The tournament will resume today.
Drivers reported being pummelled by fierce winds on motorways, with the MetService recording strong gusts on Auckland’s Harbour Bridge and the NZTA warning drivers to take “extreme caution” with the crossing.
Meteorologist Tui McInnes said: “You might see your trampoline has tipped itself over. Don’t keep loose things around in your garden that could be picked up by the wind and rolled into a glass window.”
The gales were expected to last into the early hours of this morning, with a lower possibility of high winds in Hawke’s Bay.
By dawn the worst should be over, with the North Island’s weather steadily improving and the prospect of a sunny weekend.
MetService said the week will feel much drier, with just the odd shower, as southwesterlies move on to the country.
A high pressure system will spread fine weather as the week progresses. By Wednesday or Thursday a cold front will bring rain and showers in the South Island, with possible snow in high areas.