‘It’s never going to go away’
Families, friends prepare to mark first anniversary of teens’ deaths
As the first anniversary of her son’s death looms, Charntel HuntRoberts has found herself remembering the days before her life changed.
‘‘I woke up this morning and thought, jeez, this time last year, Jack was alive, and he didn’t realise he only had four days left. It’s those sorts of intrusive thoughts that sometimes hit home even harder.
‘‘Every time I look up and catch a glimpse of his photo, it just feels like a kick in the stomach or a wave of grief or something, and it just pushes you down and pushes you down.
‘‘It’s never going to go away. You know, it’s always going to be my cross to bear that I lost my baby.’’
Hunt-Roberts’ son, Jack Wallace, 16, was one of five teenagers killed when the car they were passengers in crashed into a pole at Washdyke, near Timaru, on August 7, 2021.
Wallace’s friends, Javarney Drummond, 15, Niko Hill, 15, Andrew Goodger, 15, and Joseff McCarthy, 16, were also killed in the crash. Driver and sole survivor, Tyreese Fleming – who was 19 at the time – had held his restricted licence for just three days, and had been drinking at the time of the crash.
In June, he was sentenced to 21⁄2 years in prison on five charges of dangerous driving causing death.
Like several of the boys’ families, Hunt-Roberts had seen news reports of the crash hours before she knew her son was involved.
‘‘I’d read it online that night, and instantly thought, Jack, no. And then I thought, ‘there’s thousands of people in Timaru, surely it won’t be him’.’’
It wasn’t until the following day, she discovered her firstborn child had, in fact, been involved in the horror crash.
In her Victim Impact Statement, which she read at the sentencing of Fleming, Hunt-Roberts spoke of seeing multiple missed calls from Jack’s father and the horror of getting the news from him.
‘‘He just said, Jack’s dead, and he was sobbing so hard, his brother had to get on the phone.
‘‘I knew. I knew as soon as he said that, that Jack had been in that car accident,’’ she said.
She said more than anger, she has a ‘‘a deep, deep sadness’’ about what happened.
Hunt-Roberts described her son as ‘‘the comedian of the family’’.
‘‘Jack was a beautiful, beautiful person. Everything was a joke to him, everything was something to laugh about. He wasn’t happy unless he had everyone around him laughing.
‘‘He was really funny, quick-witted.
‘‘A good friend said to me not long after he died, you two are tied together for eternity, and that really helped.’’
Hunt-Roberts, who now lives in Waiau where her husband Alan manages a dairy farm, said she would not be able to live in Timaru, as she would find the memories too difficult.
But she said the distance from Jack’s final resting place pains her.
‘‘Knowing Jack’s in the cemetery there. I struggle with it a lot. I feel guilty that I can’t just pop up there and give him fresh flowers and things like that.’’
She said she shifted when Jack was 12 years old, with the family deciding he was best to stay in Timaru for his education.
‘‘I’d have him in the weekends and holidays and talk to him pretty much every day.’’
She said Jack wanted to farm when he left school.
‘‘He had a wee taste of it not long before he died, and he loved it, so once he’d finished with everything in Timaru . . . we would have helped him, set him up with a job, but unfortunately that never happened,’’ Hunt-Roberts said.
‘‘Jack was just so loved by us all, and he’s missed more than words can describe. Life’s just empty without him.’’
Jack’s siblings, James, Emma and Ruby, are also reeling, she said.
She said finding out information about what happened that night, as well as following the legal process and extracting details on the investigation and prosecution had been one of the hardest parts of the past year.
‘‘We didn’t know anything, we only knew what everyone else knew. It was very difficult, not knowing what actually happened. And even now, you know, I still feel like, we don’t know the full story.’’
She said Fleming’s sentencing had not brought her any sense of closure.
At the sentencing, Hunt-Roberts urged Fleming to live a good life, teaching people about the dangers of drinking and driving, and honouring her son and the other boys by ‘‘being the person that makes the change’’.
She took part in a restorative justice meeting with Fleming and his parents before the sentencing.
She said she had wanted to tell
Fleming’s parents that she was sorry ‘‘this had happened to them as well.’’
‘‘Because they also have this burden that their child killed five people. And I can only imagine how it would be if it was me.’’
Along with many of the other family members, Hunt-Roberts will be at a gathering at the crash site for the anniversary on Sunday.
She’s only visited the stretch of road once since the crash.
‘‘Once was enough really, but I’ll go back out there on Sunday to do what we have to do.’’
She has had a cross made to be installed at the site.
Javarney Drummond’s parents, Robyn and Stephen, also plan to mark the anniversary at the crash site.
‘‘It’s been so hard. People think it gets easier as time goes on, but really it doesn’t,’’ Robyn Drummond said.
She said she missed seeing Javarney’s friends as much as they used to, but she treasures the love they had for her son and the stories they have told her.
‘‘After he was gone, some of the kids told me that when they’d go to the skate park if Javarney wasn’t there, they would wait on him if they were having a down day . . . lots of kids have said that his big smile would brighten the day as soon as he arrived, it just made everything much better.’’
Stephen Drummond said the lead-up to the anniversary had been ‘‘emotionally disturbing’’.
‘‘The day’s going to be pretty hard.
‘‘We’ve got a few of the kids, his friends, they’re probably going to come around home.
‘‘It’s cool to see them, and it’s hard work.
‘‘It’s actually not that easy to live from day to day.’’