The double fatal crash that stole a young mother's family
Friday, 6 November 2020
Brooke McDowall-Blick sleeps next to a wooden box carrying the ashes of her partner and 5-month-old baby. She cannot remember the car crash that killed them two months ago – and doesn't want to. Blair Ensor reports.
The road from Winton to Invercargill was well travelled by Brooke McDowall-Blick and her young family.
Several times a week they’d make the 42-kilometre journey from their dairy farm accommodation to the country’s southernmost city to run errands and visit family and friends.
The small rural settlements along State Highway 6 barely registered.
**READ MORE:
* Southland father hopes injured daughter can be home for Christmas after horror crash
* 'Years' of recovery ahead for teen survivor in fatal four-car crash
* Dairy farmer and 'his little girl' killed in Southland car crash**
On September 2, McDowall-Blick was behind the wheel of the family’s blue Mazda as they headed south past paddocks of rolling farmland.
Other than the jobs she and her partner of five years, Matt Harris, had recently lost, the 24-year-old had almost everything she wanted.
In the back seat, the couple’s 5-month-old “chubby monkey”, Ruby, was asleep in her capsule, clutching her pink teddy and toy keys.
Harris was sitting next to his daughter keeping her company. The 22-year-old wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
Near Makarewa, about 1 kilometre north of one of the few bends on the route, McDowall-Blick thought about overtaking a car, but decided against it because a rise in the road hid oncoming traffic.
It was shortly before 4pm.
The next thing she remembers is sitting in the back of a police car waiting for an ambulance to take her to hospital.
McDowall-Blick knew she’d been involved in a crash, but had been knocked unconscious and had no recollection of what happened.
Panic set in when she remembered who was in the car with her.
By then, Ruby was en route to Southland Hospital where she died from her injuries.
Harris was dead in the wrecked Mazda.
Four vehicles were involved in the crash about 150 metres north of the Makarewa Bridge.
It was allegedly caused by the driver of a northbound car that crossed the centreline and collided with an oncoming car.
McDowall-Blick’s vehicle, and another driven by 17-year-old secondary school student Ella Ashley, were caught up in the ensuing carnage.
Ashley was critically injured – suffering major damage to her legs and arms – and likely won’t be able to walk, even with support, for at least a year.
Two months on from the crash, police are still piecing together what happened and haven’t ruled out charges.
This week, the driver who allegedly caused the crash declined to comment. He lives in Invercargill, but works for a rural Southland business.
McDowall-Blick, who walked away from the crash with a brain bleed, concussion and a cut to the back of her neck, often lies awake late at night thinking about what she’s lost.
Every day is a struggle.
“I had a family that loved me and I loved them,” she says through tears.
“I don’t want to believe it’s true [that they’re gone].”
On her bedside table is a wooden box containing Ruby and Harris’ ashes.
“I like sleeping close to it. It’s a bit of comfort knowing that they’re next to me,” she says.
Nearby is one of her favourite photos of them with the words “together forever”.
McDowall-Blick and Harris met at a party in 2015.
She was training to be a hairdresser. He was an apprentice butcher at PAK‘nSAVE.
It wasn’t long before they were in a relationship.
Harris was outgoing, loving, caring and helpful, McDowall-Blick says.
“He was a really good partner.”
One of his passions was four-wheel driving.
“He loved getting muddy with his friends.”
About three years ago, the couple decided it was time for a change and became dairy farmworkers – milking cows, fixing fences and helping with calving.
They liked being around animals and enjoyed the work.
Ruby was 10 days overdue when she was born by emergency caesarean in March.
Weighing about 2.8 kilograms, she had brown hair and blue eyes.
“I cried when I saw her,” McDowall-Blick says. “She was the apple of my eye.”
At the time of the crash, Ruby was curious, able to roll over and had not long started eating solid food.
Her first word was “dada”.
McDowall-Blick says she misses her daughter’s “cheeky smiles and giggles” and even the sound of her cry, which was “actually cute”.
“She was my wee chubby monkey.”
Since the crash, McDowall-Blick has packed up the home where she lived with Harris and Ruby and has moved in with her parents.
“I don’t know what to do with my life. Everything has flipped upside down. I’m lost.”
She’s receiving counselling and treatment for her head injury.
“I’m scared that my memory is going to come back and I’m going to remember everything [about the crash].”
McDowall-Blick says she’s been overwhelmed with messages of support from people in the community, many of whom she’s never met.
But the driver of the car who allegedly caused the crash hasn’t been in contact.
She doesn’t know who he is, but hopes he is charged.
Like McDowall-Blick, Matt Harris’ mother, Cathy Harris, will forever be scarred by the crash.
“It seems like it was just yesterday because it’s still so very, very raw.”
Harris misses her son’s hugs and regular phone calls. “He’d never hang up without saying ‘I love you’.”
She’s devastated that she won’t get to see him develop as a father to Ruby who he “just adored”.
“We’ve been robbed of that opportunity.”
Three weeks ago McDowall-Blick and Harris were among a small group of people who visited the crash scene and put two white crosses on the grass verge.
They hope they serve as a reminder to motorists about how deadly the roads can be.
On Wednesday, the country’s road toll stood at 265. At the same time last year 281 people had died.
“Even if it’s a simple journey, be aware, wear your seatbelt and never take anything for granted because … you never know who on the road isn’t driving safely,” Harris says.