Families of the five Timaru teenagers killed in a crash in August last year say they are grateful to finally have more details about what happened in the lead-up to the tragic smash.
Tyreese Fleming today pled guilty to five counts of dangerous driving causing death in the High Court at Timaru.
He was the sole survivor of a crash that killed Javarney Drummond, 15, Niko Hill, 15, Jack Wallace, 16, Joseff McCarthy, 16, and Andrew Goodger, 15.
They died when the car they were travelling in hit a concrete power pole on August 6, 2021.
Fleming, 19, had been driving on a restricted licence he’d only held for two days and was originally charged with five counts of manslaughter.
Some of their family members were present in court for Fleming’s appearance and heard for the first time a summary of facts about how the crash took place.
Javarney’s father, Stephen Drummond, told 1News that he doesn’t think it’s fair the families weren’t given the details sooner but says that “at the end of the day, it is what it is".
“It doesn’t matter what happens here, it’s not going to make the pain go away from not having a son,” Drummond told 1News outside the court.
“From him dying until now has actually been really, really hard work for all families, not just me.”
The court heard Fleming had posted on Snapchat vision of himself sculling two RTDs at a skatepark before he got behind the wheel with the five teens packed into the car.
Andrea, the mother of another of the victims, Andrew Goodger, agrees that it’s been good to know more of the details of the crash.
She says she had been aware that her son was in the boot of the car at the time of the crash.
This fact is something Andrew's sister, Jorja, says makes her “really mad".
“I know Tyreese didn’t do it on purpose but he still chose to let someone in his boot.”
She says that no sentence was ever going to be enough, but she would have liked for Fleming to have been convicted on higher charges.
Describing her brother, she says Andrew had a heart condition and had “fought really hard to be here”.
“He was the most loving, kind kid I know and his smile would light up an entire room.”
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