Reissue: Mother calls for tougher boy racers laws, 12 years after daughter's death in street race

It was February 19, 2013.

Maree Schafer was excited to start a hairdressing course at the Eastern Institute of Technology the next day.

That night, three cars - a silver Holden Commodore, a blue Ford Falcon, and a grey Nissan Skyline were street racing near Napier.

The Commodore continued through an intersection, going well over 180km/hour, when the driver lost control, slid sideways across the road, and crashed into a tree.

There were three occupants in that car. One was 18-year-old Maree. She died at the scene.

Twelve years later, and boy racer events are still happening.

People are injured, cars totalled, police intimidated, and, people die.

Just last month, riot police clashed with what the Police Minister’s called “cowardly, try-hard idiots” in Levin and Palmerston North – and police are preparing for more gatherings.

Today on The Front Page, Coreen Schafer, Maree’s mother, tells us what she’d say to one of these kids, and what life is like after losing her daughter to street racing.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Kyota at Chelsea Daniels here, host of the Front Page.
We're taking a week breakover summer, but to help fill
the gap, we're re issuing some of our most significant
episodes of twenty twenty five on behalf of the Front
Page team. Thanks for listening and we look forward to
being back with you on January twelfth, twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Kyota.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm Chelsea Daniels, and this is the Front Page, a
daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. It was
February nineteenth, two thousand and thirteen. Marie Schaeffer was excited
to start a hairdressing course at the Eastern Institute of
Technology the next day. That night, three cars, a silver

(01:07):
Holding Commodore, a blue Fort Falcon and a Grayness and
Skyline was street racing near Napier. The Commodore continued through
an intersection going well over one hundred and eighty kilometer
an hour when the driver lost control, slid sideways across
the road and crashed into a tree.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
There were three.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Occupants in that car. One was eighteen year old Marie.
She died at the scene. Twelve years later, and boy
racer events are still happening. People are injured, cars totaled,
police intimidated, and people are still dying. Just last month,
riot police clashed with what the police Minister's calling cowardly

(01:47):
tryhard idiots in Livin and Palmerston, North and police are
preparing for more of these gatherings Today. On the front page,
Kareen Schaefer, Marie's mother tells us what she'd like to
say to one of these kids and what life is
like after losing her daughter to street racing. First off, Karin,

(02:11):
can you tell me about your daughter Marie?

Speaker 2 (02:18):
She's Beautif she was a I don't know. She was
just the light of the room. Really. Her smile was
all teeth, It was infectious. She loved her sisters, you know,
sister Lee love hate that kind of thing. But you
know she was my best friend. Yeah, she had so

(02:39):
many friends. Yeah, very ditsy though, yeah. No, she was
just everything. Was my firstborn, firstborn. And she was going
to hairdressing. Yeah, she was going to a t she
was supposed to start the morning after the crash.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
What happened on February nineteenth, twenty thirteen.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Well, I was at work, just going about her normal thing,
and Marie was getting all excited about going to AIT
and my sister had said, oh, come and stay here
the night, you know, don't stay with your boyfriend, come
and have an early night. And but no, Marie wanted
to do her own thing, and she sent one of
those mail texts things. And by the time I finished

(03:22):
work it was about halbust ten eleven. Iur, so I
won't text you back. She might be asleep. Then about
have us twelve in the morning, I heard a knock
on the door and it was just a knock, and
I didn't think anything of it. And I looked outside
and I didn't know the car, so I just didn't
answer the door. And then it would have been a
couple of hours later. The knock was a knock that

(03:46):
you'll never get out of your head. And I knew
I had to get up for this knock. And as
soon as I opened the door and I saw the police,
I know, I fell to the floor. I screamed. That
was the end of my world right at that moment.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, so you knew something was wrong even just before
you even answered the door.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, it's just a moment stinct. I think I had
to get up for that knock, not the other knock.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
What was your first thought and feelings when you heard
what had actually happened.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
I was liverd I was so angry that his stupid
boyfriend at the time and your best friend decided to
be a cool idea to get into the cars and
have a race. They make tracks for racing, not streets. Yeah,
I was really really pissed off. I was. I can't

(04:42):
describe it. It's just yeah, it was done. I've got
a lot of other words for it, but I want
to say those words.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I mean, I bet that was a really confusing feeling
as well, because you've just lost your daughter, your best friend,
but feeling angry with her as well. Has that anger passed?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
It's got better. I mean, it doesn't matter how angry
I am with her or the others involved. I will
never have a home. So I've learned to live with
the anger. But I still get really angry when I
see the crep that goes on on the TV, and
I think, well, I hope no one knocks on your parents' door. Well.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
The four young men who killed Marie were the first
in the country to be sentenced under the new anti
boy racer laws. At the time, though it was called
the Sentencing Vehicle Confiscation Amendment Act. Tell me about the
court process, because not only did you lose your daughter
in such a horrific way and you're dealing with that,

(05:46):
you're dealing with that trauma, but then you have to
go through and how was that.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
I would never want to do it again. Ever, it
was an emotional rollercoaster every day just being in court
seeing them and then not really showing remorse. You know,
It's just I really did want to leap up and
hit them, but then I would have been probably in
a contempt of court. I don't know. But Corey Eubles,

(06:18):
he was the policeman at the time. He was great.
He would sit us down before we went to court
and just have a talk and no, he was great.
We sort of knew what was going to be coming
when we were in the courtroom, but to see and
hear it and like how it happened, speeds they were going,

(06:40):
just looking at the state of the car, it was
just horrible. Just yeah, there's nothing you want to be
doing at all.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Can you remember how you felt at the time. Were
you happy with their sentences? Nah?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
No, they got off lightly. They really did it wasn't enough,
and they're going to crush cars. You know, boy race
his cars, You're going to crush them. And I don't
see much happening at all. The car Marie was and
was a complete right off, so that was just a goner.
But I just things need to be done, Things need
to change. And if they're going to bring a Lauren

(07:17):
like that, stick to it, don't you know, beat around
the bush, don't just sweep it under the mat. Something
has to be done.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Well.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
The fact of the matter is that this is thirteen
years without Marie and we're still seeing this kind of
thing happening.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
What does that bring up for you when you see
that kind of stuff on the telly?

Speaker 2 (07:39):
The same emotions back to day one, back to their
knock on the door. It's you relive it all the time.
And I haven't told my other daughters that were one
sitting next to me, But I haven't told my daughters.
That's how I feel every time the siren goes off,
or if I know that they've gone in the car,
or like my twins, like getting into cars with people.

(08:02):
They've all had the mum word of all. I'm frightened,
you know, And I shouldn't have to feel that way,
but that there's part of the reality of your child
getting killed by a stupid Cararas.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
It's the government's view that the car laws are not
adequate enough to deal with the harm that boy racers cause,
we want to toughen things up, really crack down and
make sure that the law sends a very clear message
that illegal street racing is not going to be tolerated
in our communities and sends it deterrent message to say
that boy races. Enough is enough. So we've decided upon

(08:37):
a package of changes, the centerpiece of which is a
new presumption in that illegal street racing or taking part
in an intimidating plot point, or failing to stop for police,
or indeed failing to identify an offending boy racer will
result in the forefoot and destruction of a car owned

(09:00):
by a boy racer.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Last month, the government announced a few tougher penalties. So
that means that convicted fleeing drivers, boy racers and people
participating in intimidating convoys they call them, will have their
vehicles destroyed or for for dead. Do you think that
goes far enough?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
No, because they'll just go and pick up another shipbox
for cheap, and they'll use that. There's always going to
be a car for somebody to get. Why don't they
send them to jail. Why don't they get those people
to go and knock on the door and tell them,
oh sorry, Why don't they walk in the shoes of
the parents? I was getting faster and they think that
they're invincible, you know, and then the dumb people that

(09:45):
stand there and watch them. Yeah, it's an accident waiting
to happen. But something needs to be done. And honestly,
I don't think what kind of law brought in will
change it, because there's the kids will always find a
way around it. It's like anything, something needs to be done.
But I do not want to know.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
What do you think that if there was any more education,
or if the kids knew? I mean, because kids know, though,
don't they like It's just they just don't want to listen,
that's right.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, like Marino that night, hmm. But I don't think
she well, she wouldn't have wanted the outcome to be
the way it was. And I think in the moment,
kids think, yes, this is going to be great, but
they don't think of the consequence, they don't think long term.

(10:37):
You know, maybe they should go and visit people that
have been paralyzed and stuff like that through KA saying
and people been hit and they can't walk, they can't talk,
you know, let them go and do their cares for
a day, or let them go and see what it's like.
You know, is that person's lost out in a lot
of life.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Karen, If you could come face to face with one
of these kids, say in Levin, for example, who are
taking part in this mass boy racer meet up and
driving dangerously, disobeying police, acting tough. If you could set
one of them down, face to face, what would you
say to them?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I'd children the photo of Maurice's car, first photo of
my daughter and say this could possibly be you, and
then just tell them what happened, because being smart don't
save your life. Being a smart ass don't save your life. Yeah.
I would just probably tell them what I'm telling you,
but in harsher terms, my anger would probably come out

(11:43):
a lot more than it is on right now.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Do you ever think if that night didn't happen, where
would Marie be?

Speaker 4 (11:53):
Now?

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yep? Every day I reckon she'd have her own care
Solon Alex, her sister, the other big sister. She reckons
she'd be a millionaire by hour because she even though
she acted them, she was very, very smart, and she
reckons she would have been up there with the top. Yep,
she would have gone far. She would have got rid
of that stupid boyfriend that was in the other car.

(12:14):
She haded life make out. She knew what she wanted
to do. Yeap. She would have been great were almost
having her around so much. She'd be able to hold
her nephews and check your sister's asses when they need it,
you know, just things like that. But she would have
She would have gone far in a.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Life, even if it is what twelve years ago. Now,
I bet you could do that. I bet that not
just feels like yesterday.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yep, very knock every fire siren, Yep, I just go,
ah ship here we go. I just yeah, I just
it's not it's not fun, you know, And these things
are embedded in me now. I never used to care,
but I do now. It's just the fear of maybe
somebody else that we know, hopefully not one of my family,

(13:02):
to anybody. It's just not it's not the nice knock.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Is there anything else that you want to add.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
I just want kiss to grow up. Grow up, stop
acting like smart asses. Get your ship together. You know
why it's been all that money on shipbox cars. Why
do that? Get an education, Get a job, you know,
do something with your life. Don't waste it on a car.

(13:29):
And for Christ's sake, don't kill anybody. Well, if you do,
I hope you get done really good for it.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
It's just that I remember where I was looking back
to when I was eighteen, seventeen eighteen, and my god,
it's that time in your life when you just think
you're invincible and you've got this road, not literally but
a road of life ahead of you. You've got so
many things, and it just feels so far away, and
you just think you've got all this time.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
You don't. Time is precious. Time is precious. Don't waste
your time, not on a street race. It's not worth it.
And one day the cops will catch you. And it's
just I don't know, I don't know how to explain it.
But kids are so thick, not all of them, but
you know, you know, there's a majority of them that
are pretty thick. And maybe it'll take for one of
their family members, or for them to kill or one

(14:19):
of their family members to realize that it wasn't really
such a great idea at the time. Maybe then they'll
think about it. Until then, are we going to know
is the law going to do anything? I don't know.
My daughter and I were talking about it today, and
is it even if we had a track for them
to go and do it legally? You know, but then
you're still going to get the muppets that will do

(14:41):
it on the road, you know, just just think it's fun.
It ain't fun. So I really don't know what we
can do about it.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
We really don't need people glorifying this sort of behavior,
and we're going to stamp it out with these laws.

Speaker 5 (14:58):
Legislation introduced today means anyone posting or sharing violent or
illegal acts on social media could face up to two
years in prison, regardless of whether anyone in the post
was charged, the Attorney General stopping short of saying it
was prompted by a rise in youth crime.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
I think we're seeing people do stupid things like this
across the board, doing really stupid things in cars or
fights on streets, and glorifying this sort of criminal behavior.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
I was looking up some laws over in Aussie because
everything in Australia seems ten years ahead in terms of
laws and how everything's going, and they call them hoon's
over there. Yeah, And in Queensland they brought in a
law called posting and boasting. So that's when if you're
going above the speed limit, if you're doing a stupid
video in your car and you're going you know, one

(15:51):
to eighty or whatever, and you post it online, then
you can the maximum penalty is five years.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
That needs to be done over here then, simple, simple,
I mean.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Because those spectators are participating as well and egging people
on a.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Those people can go to jail too. I don't know
why we haven't got harsh laws, to be quite honest,
I think that would be a great idea, But then
our prison system wouldn't be able to cope with the
amount of people that would have to go in, you know,
So how can you work it? If she hadn't died,

(16:25):
I would have been marching her down to the police
station and handing her in for being part of it,
So you know, that would have been her consequence. You know.
I think parents need to get harder as well. Do
they know what their kids are doing on Saturday night,
had they taken mummy's car out for a drive. You know,

(16:47):
I just want something done, Like I said, I just
want respect for Marie. She needs respect. I don't want
her death in vain watching all the other kids out
there just getting away.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
With it because so many lives have been lost, like
young lives as well. Was just so much ahead of them,
like Marie.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, it's a waste, it's a real waste. But we'll
never go back. We've only got memories.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
You know, what's one of your favorite memories?

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Oh god, there's so many. Probably her making me pumpkin soup.
It was a good all pretending like when I got
home from where it be at like ten o'clock at night.
She knew the dog wasn't allowed to be inside, and
then she'd hear the gate and opposite the dog got

(17:39):
thrown out the door. Or living right across the road
from college, and she was always late to school, weren't
to live right across the right opposite the school. She
was always late every day, every day she was late
to school. There was just silly little stupid things like that,
just you know, teaching her to drive my car. One day,

(18:00):
driving along and there was a corner coming up and
she's pointing, look, look, look there's a dog. There's a dog.
And we said, chat, there's a corner. But what I
missed the most about her is just her love, her
compassion for her sisters, just her love for everybody. Yeah,
and it's slid, big grin. Yeah. If you felt like

(18:23):
should should soon make you feel better. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzdherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
our sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front
Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and

(18:54):
tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.