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Coroner offers advice to parents after ‘grossly intoxicated’ girl, 14, died after being hit by car
A “grossly intoxicated” teenage girl who fell in front of an oncoming car after drinking and smoking cannabis has prompted a coroner to warn young people not to drink alcohol.
Zara Joy Blackie, 14, was killed when she was struck by a car in Oamaru’s Severn St about 10.40pm on October 23, 2018.
The energetic and vibrant youngster who hoped to become a hairdresser had been living with her parents in Oamaru when tragedy struck, Coroner Heidi Wrigley noted in findings released today.
She had been spending a lot of time at her boyfriend’s home, the coroner had been told, with her parents finding it increasingly difficult to have her stay at home.
Her mother told police she felt Zara “had too much to do with alcohol at her age” but had “very tight rules at home around alcohol use”.
She explained that “if and when” alcohol was bought for Zara she was allowed to consume it only at home under supervision.
But she was aware the girl was consuming alcohol elsewhere, including at her boyfriend’s home.
The parents were also concerned about her smoking, including cannabis, with her father saying she could come home “quite smashed sometimes; with bloodshot eyes”, the coroner heard.
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About 8pm on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, she left home with her school uniform, vowing to stay at her boyfriend’s house and promising to go to school the next day.
Asked about her drinking, she responded, “Yep, a couple of cans”, while her mother knew Zara had visited “a yellow druggie house” earlier that day.
A “male associate” of her boyfriend later told police the trio had shared a 2.5-3g bag of cannabis before shoplifting two 1.5L bottles of Scrumpy cider which they all drank.
About 10pm, Zara’s boyfriend had a seizure, the findings say, with police officers speaking to them on Reed St, assessing Zara as “grossly intoxicated” and her boyfriend as “visibly intoxicated and struggling to stand”.
Finding them all underage, they were dropped at their respective homes.
Her parents say she was upset, crying, and hyperventilating, asking for her boyfriend and insistent that she see him.
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Her father tried to persuade her to stay home but she apologised and ran off, in the direction of her boyfriend’s home.
Heading to his car with the intention of picking Zara up, the father heard a loud exhaust of a nearby car and then a loud bang.
He ran to the scene and found Zara lying on the road, unconscious, and breathing irregularly.
She was rushed to hospital by ambulance but died soon after arrival.
The driver of the car that struck Zara, Joshua John Chellew, did not stop to check on her and was later convicted of failing to stop or ascertain injury/death after a crash.
He was sentenced to four months of home detention and ordered to pay $4000 in reparation. A judge said that what happened, “occurred so quickly that [Chellew, who had also consumed both cannabis and alcohol before the fatal collision] had almost no opportunity to respond to the particular circumstances”.
Coroner Wrigley prefaced her recommendations and comments by “clearly stating” that she did not blame Zara’s parents for their daughter’s death.
“Zara’s death was a tragic accident,” she wrote.
“That accident was contributed to by her gross intoxication arising from her own misuse of alcohol and potentially exacerbated by her use of cannabis. Nothing Zara’s parents did contributed to her death. They did not supply her with either alcohol or cannabis on the day of her death.”
The coroner endorsed the parenting advice provided by Te Hiringa Hauora – Health Promotion Agency and emphasised that the safest approach is for people under 18 not to drink alcohol.
She also stressed that role modelling appropriate use of alcohol is important and that a permissive attitude can increase the chances of misuse.
Coroner Wrigley also recommended that Te Whatu Ora, Te Aka Whai Ora and Te Pou Hauora Tumatanui collaborate to further publicise the advice provided to parents and caregivers about protecting rangatahi (young people) from alcohol misuse and associated harm while also making easily accessible additional resources and support for parents and caregivers to help them in developing parenting skills that support rangatahi to avoid alcohol misuse and associated harm.
“I extend my sincere condolences to Zara’s family and friends for their very sad loss,” the coroner added.
SOURCE NZ HERALD
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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