Mum’s fatal midnight drive
Tulia Asalemo was too tired to accompany her mother on a 1am drive from Tokoroa to pick up her two siblings.
It saved the 10-year-old’s life. Her mother, Nadia Kolopa Asalemo, was killed just half an hour later on State Highway 1 on October 6 last year when her vehicle struck a house on a transporter coming the other way.
Speaking outside the Coroner’s Court in Rotorua yesterday, where the hearing into her daughter’s death had taken place, the mother, who did not wish to be named, said Nadia had planned to make the early hours drive to pick up two of her children from Wanganui.
Tulia was ‘‘too tired to leave,’’ she said.
‘‘That was the last time I saw her.’’
Nadia was driving along State Highway 1 about 6km south of Tokoroa when her car struck the right front edge of the house being transported by Andrews House Moving Company.
The Coroner heard evidence from Andrews House Moving Company owner Gary Andrews, who described the incident as ‘‘horrific for the guys that were involved’’.
He paused often and appeared on the verge of tears as he addressed Nadia’s family members in the court.
‘‘I wish the lady had seen the house. Being a father and a grandfather this is tragic,’’ he said.
‘‘From all of us involved, it’s tragic and we really feel for you.’’
The moment of impact was described by the driver of the house transporter, Leslie McKenzie, who said he had received a radio message from one of their pilot cars about an approaching vehicle.
‘‘She hasn’t stopped, she hasn’t stopped,’’ he was told.
‘‘I saw a car just as it got by the truck and heard a bang. Still at speed it hit the house, the whole house shook.’’
He said the ‘‘motor was just screaming as it went past.’’
The impact was also witnessed by fellow truck driver Peter Jackson, who was travelling on his regular Masterton to Auckland route.
‘‘I could hear the impact of the vehicle hitting the house, I saw
the van go under the house, then I heard a secondary impact. The van came out from under the house bearing hard to the left, then it turned back to the right and I lost sight of it,’’ he said.
‘‘The impact had cut most of the roof off the van.’’
Jackson also described the moment he approached the vehicle, seeing Nadia unresponsive.
‘‘The car was not running but the stereo was blaring, probably as loud as it would go. It was like the driver just ignored the pilot vehicle, or didn’t know what it was due to the speed she was travelling at,’’ he said.
A second pilot driver, Paul Johnson, also revealed he had been warned about Nadia’s approaching vehicle before the crash from a third pilot car. Her foot was down and nearly hit his vehicle at speed. He was telling us to watch out for this lady,’’ he said. Johnson said she was travelling fast, and echoed a number of witnesses when he described how well lit the convey was. ‘‘We were lit up like a Christmas tree. She couldn’t have missed us.’’
Detective Constable Russel Lyle from the serious crash unit said that despite the trailer being used to transport the house not having a registration – something that was found to be due to a clerical error – all the vehicles involved in the house move were fit for use.
He said conditions at the time of the crash were good and cell phone data confirmed Nadia would not have been distracted by phone use. He said he believed fatigue to be a likely cause.
Coroner Gordon Matenga said he would reserve his decision, which he said he expected to release this week.