Grieving dad: ‘Our heart goes out to other family’
The father of a driver who drove the wrong way down the motorway killing himself and another motorist has offered his ‘‘deepest’’ sympathies to the victim’s family.
Tane Anderson left the BP petrol station on Russley Rd, Christchurch, on Sunday morning, driving over a kerb and grass verge and knocking over a sign. The 20-year-old then turned left, driving past a wrong way sign, and entered the motorway on the wrong side of the road.
Anderson drove for more than 1 kilometre with no lights on before colliding head-on with Jordan Gow, 26, who was about 15 minutes away from work in Rangiora. Both men died at the scene.
Anderson’s father, Haki Anderson, told The Press yesterday that his family was ‘‘completely devastated’’.
‘‘Our heart goes out to the other family. We extend them our deepest sympathies and love.’’
Anderson, a former pupil at St Bede’s College, was an apprentice electrician. He played in the college’s 1st XV and was an age-group representative rugby player.
‘‘He was a lovely young man who had the world at his feet . . . just cut too short.’’
Haki Anderson declined to comment on the circumstances of the crash. ‘‘It’s just too hard at the moment, it’s too raw.’’
Gow was with twin brother Josh on Saturday night, recording music and watching clips from their gig the night before. He was happy and ‘‘living his best moments’’, his brother said. Josh Gow now treasures their final night together.
‘‘He just told me, ‘I’m so proud of you, you’re a machine on the guitar’, and he was just jumping up and down with excitement. I was just trying to hide the fact that it was making me feel so good.’’
Josh Gow received a call from his father, Murray Gow, not long after the crash. Still in bed, he ignored the first call, only to get another from his father through Facebook moments later.
‘‘I answered the phone, and he told me that Jordan had died. I was instantly in a state of shock ... I thought I was going to have a heart attack or something, it was so unreal.’’
He then went outside in the freezing cold ‘‘just so I could feel something’’.
A police officer then spoke to him over the phone and said they were sorry for his loss. His girlfriend then told him to go have a shower.
‘‘I was scared to be in the shower because I was alone, and she said it’d be good for you ... and I just broke down in there, I wanted to punch the glass.’’
Barely a day after his brother’s death, Gow said he had experienced many moments of frustration and sadness.
‘‘It’s hard to come to terms with, he’s still here with me in my heart and in my head.’’
Growing up, the twins were best friends. It was their father who at a young age introduced the twins to the video game Guitar Hero, which started their love of music.
Gow said the brothers were wellknown in Christchurch’s music scene as ‘‘the twins’’ who were in a band together. On Friday they performed with their band, Unite the Silence, for the first time since the lockdown. Gow said the band had been ‘‘itching’’ for a good show, and put on one of their best performances.
The brothers had recently finished an album together, which Gow plans to release.
While sitting in his living room yesterday tears began to stream down his face as he played one of his brother’s favourite songs, Drown by British rock band Bring Me the Horizon, on his guitar.
‘‘I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself but Jordan saw the best person I could be and really pushed for that, put me in positions where I’m outside my comfort zone. He always saw the best in people.’’
A police investigation into the crash is under way.