Boy, 6, who died in Northland crash 'happy, kind and gentle'

Sunday, 3 January 2021

A recent photo of Myka Tuala, who died just before his seventh birthday in a crash.

A Wellington boy who died just a month short of his seventh birthday in a crash in Northland is being remembered as a happy, kind and gentle person who was loved by all who knew him.

Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the two-car crash on New Year’s Day which killed 6-year-old Myka Tuala, whose family lived in the capital suburb of Broadmeadows.

Myka died on January 1 just a month short of his seventh birthday on February 6, according to a Givealittle page online which was set up by a friend of his family.

Myka went to Paparangi School in Wellington's northern suburbs.

“Our dear friends Charlotte and Jay have had the most devastating start to the New Year,” the page said.

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“Their beloved son Myka was involved in a car collision which tragically resulted in his passing.

“Myka's personality was a true reflection of the loving family environment he has grown up in. He was a happy, kind and gentle boy who was undoubtedly adored by all that knew him.”

Myka was Charlotte and Jay’s only child.

Police said their thoughts were with Myka’s family. He was an only child.

He attended Paparangi School in Wellington’s northern suburbs, which had a roll of about 250 students as at March 2020.

Myka was in Whangārei for the summer holidays with his family. He usually went there for the school holidays during the year.

As Charlotte and Jay were in the process of bringing Myka’s body home to be with them, they had asked for privacy while they made funeral arrangements, the page said.

It was set up in the hopes of relieving any financial burden, so the family could focus on grieving Myka, who was “beloved”, it said.

Myka died in a crash in Northland on New Year’s Day.

The page had more than $7000 in donations by Sunday evening.

The crash occurred on State Highway 1 at Hikurangi, just north of Whangārei in Northland, about 4.15pm on Friday.

On Sunday, police named the child who died in the crash as being Myka.

Five other people were also hurt in the crash, and the road was closed for several hours while the cause was investigated.

A police spokesperson said their thoughts were with Myka’s family.

Myka’s death is the only one on New Zealand roads so far this year, although there have been a number of serious crashes.

For the official holiday period, which began at 4pm on Christmas Eve and runs until 6am on January 5, Myka’s death marked the tenth on New Zealand roads so far for that period.

In other non-fatal serious crashes in 2021, an injured man spent six hours trapped in his overturned car after driving off a rural road in north Waikato early on New Year’s Day.

A pedestrian was critically injured in central Auckland after being hit by a car about 2am on New Year’s Day.

Another pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries after a crash on State Highway 25 in Hikuai, Waikato, at 6.50am on New Year’s Day.

Police’s national road policing manager, acting Superintendent Gini Welch, urged drivers to help prevent further road fatalities.

“You can do that by putting away your phone, ensuring you drive free from alcohol, drugs and fatigue, wear your seatbelt, and drive to the conditions within speed limits,” Welch said.

Provisional figures from the Ministry of Transport showed there were 320 deaths on New Zealand roads in 2020, down 32 on the 2019’s figure of 352.