Boys were to meet man whose car they stole
Two 13-year-old car thieves killed in a high-speed crash while fleeing police were days away from meeting one of their victims.
Christchurch man Joel Langley was due to meet Brooklyn Taylor and Craig McAllister, both 13, for a restorative justice meeting either this week or next. The pair regularly stole cars to the point where they had developed a reputation with police.
Langley had lent his Mazda Familia hatchback to his girlfriend’s nana.
One morning last month, police phoned him at 2am to say his car had been stolen. The car was so damaged the insurance company wrote it off.
‘‘You feel really violated when someone’s rifling through your property,’’ he said.
Langley had hoped the restorative justice meeting would be a ‘‘turning point’’ for the boys.
‘‘It’s about them realising they’re going down the wrong track here and a wake-up call to get back on the right track before they end up in the prison system for the rest of their lives.’’
He was ‘‘shocked’’ to hear on Monday night the two boys had died, along with Craig’s older brother Glen McAllister, 16. The stolen car, which police briefly chased on Moorhouse Ave, burst into flames after hitting road spikes then crashing into a tree on Blenhiem Rd. The boys perished in the inferno.
‘‘I just couldn’t believe it – it really hit home how fragile life is. It’s just a tragedy how you can slip down the wrong side of the tracks and then the next minute you’re dead.’’