Suzanne Broomhall, 71, of Ashburton is disabled after being seriously injured in a horrific crash almost three years ago. She and her 36-year-old son Rokeni were on their way to Christchurch in the Hato Hone St John Health Shuttle when their lives changed forever. The pair are angry and dismayed the driver of the vehicle which crashed into the shuttle got off with a written warning. Suzanne’s recovery has also involved a battle with ACC. Susan Sandys reports.
The headlines shocked readers nationwide.
‘‘Seven injured, two critically, in Burnham crash’’ said the NZ Herald. ‘‘Seven hospitalised in Canterbury St John health shuttle crash,’’ said 1News.
It was August 19, 2022.
Suzanne and her son Rokeni had been among the passengers that day on the shuttle, a St John van that takes residents to health-related appointments in Christchurch.
Suzanne was off to Christchurch Hospital, for a specialist appointment, while Rokeni, who had been living with Suzanne temporarily at the time, was going to a routine health appointment.
‘‘It was a beautiful sunny day, I remember that,’’ she said.
Everything was as expected aboard as the vehicle travelled north on State Highway 1 near Burnham. Everyone was settled in their seats and enjoying the journey.
Suzanne recalls scenery out the window – cows peacefully grazing paddocks with whitecapped mountains behind.
It was about 9.30am when she saw a southbound ute towing a trailer, jackknife and head towards the shuttle. A partially lost load of pipes was dragging on the ground behind the trailer.
‘‘It hit straight towards me, where I was sitting. I didn’t have time to even think to move, or anything. It was like a ‘bang’. And I was twisted around.’’
Her seat went sideways, 90 degrees from where it had been, as the shuttle was shunted off the road. It hit a tree front-on, which stopped it from going any further.
‘‘I really didn’t know what the hell was going on. I remember sitting there rubbing my knees, I think it was just an automatic reaction.’’
While seriously injured, she does not remember being in pain. Her first thought was to think of the welfare of Rokeni.
‘‘All I could do is yell for my son. It was just so weird really,’’ Suzanne said.
Burnham firefighters came to the scene. Attending to a woman trapped in the wreckage in a different part of the bus, one of them let Suzanne know she would be the next to be freed.
In the meantime, passing motorists who had stopped at the scene were comforting her and fellow passengers.
‘‘One stood at the window and held my hand,’’ Suzanne said.
Her concerns about Rokeni’s welfare were allayed when she turned her head and could see him being attended to on the other side of the road, and he softly smiled at her.
‘‘He was letting me know he was OK.’’
She had sustained a broken pelvis, breaks to all the bones in her right arm, and cuts on her legs.
Rokeni was also injured. He broke his left forearm, lower leg, ribs, tore knee ligaments and sustained cuts to his face.
Suzanne was airlifted to Christchurch, although doesn’t remember the journey. As she was wheeled down the hospital’s corridors, she saw ‘‘spaghetti’’ on the ceiling, a strange scene she believes was caused by the painkilling drugs she had been given.
‘‘That was all I remember, until I woke up after the surgery.’’
She had lost a lot of blood and required several transfusions. She spent four months in hospital.
‘‘When I was in hospital, I had to lie on my back and not move, it was horrible,’’ she said.
‘‘I thought when I was in hospital, I would be able to get up out of bed and walk. Of course I couldn’t, I had to learn how to walk all over again, that wasn’t fun.
‘‘I did have trauma to start with. It took me ages to stop thinking about it.’’
She was grateful her son was not as badly injured, due to not having been at the impact point of the crash.
‘‘He usually sits beside me, that day he said ‘I think I will sit in the back today mum’. I’m glad he did.’’
Rokeni said healing had been a slow journey.
‘‘I’m still sort of recovering in terms of my mobility, moving my joints and getting them back to how they were,’’ he said.
For Suzanne, she is now permanently disabled. Due to her injuries she has to rely on a walker.
She was ‘‘bloody angry’’ the driver got off without a conviction.
The 68-year-old was charged with careless or inconsiderate driving causing injury.
However, as a police spokesperson informed The Ashburton Courier last week, further routine legal discussion between the defence and the Crown in court led to the matter being ‘‘withdrawn by leave’’ by the courts.
‘‘A written warning was subsequently issued as an alternative outcome,’’ the spokesperson said.
The Criminal Procedure Act 2011 says a prosecutor may, with the leave of the court, withdraw a charge before trial. Suzanne said she could never get back the four months of her life she was in hospital.
‘‘It’s not just me, it’s the seven of us, it seems we don’t matter. He just gets a slap on the hand,’’ she said. ‘‘It would be nice if he sent us a ‘sorry’ or something like that.’’
Rokeni is just as upset about the charge being withdrawn. ‘‘He should of at least got some punishments. People’s lives have been affected as well,’’ he said.
On top of the psychological and emotional trauma of the crash, Suzanne had an awful experience dealing with ACC and other organisations.
ACC had refused to pay for replacing her false teeth which she lost in the crash.
ACC deputy chief executive service delivery Michael Frampton told The Ashburton Courier this week had Suzanne’s dentures been damaged, the organisation would have replaced them. ‘‘However, they were lost rather than damaged,’’ Frampton said.
Suzanne was shocked at this response.
‘‘I can’t believe what rubbish they come up with,’’ she said.
Suzanne is from a family of nine siblings, and was grateful her brothers and sisters chipped in the $4000 needed.
‘‘They couldn’t bear to see me without teeth; and I couldn’t afford to get them.’’
Suzanne said she was incorrectly informed prior to leaving hospital that her Ka ¯inga Ora home would be fitted with rails and ramps by the time she returned. Among the issues she faced was not being able to have a shower due to not being able to get her foot over a lip at its doorway.
‘‘I got sent home before I should have come home,’’ she said.
‘‘I had to wash myself in the sink in the bathroom. Nobody tells you what you can’t get and what you can. You have to fight for everything, and even then you can’t get it.’’
Suzanne is a keen gardener, and said the hobby had helped her heal. While she can no longer garden as she used to, she enjoyed caring for pot plants which had replaced her home’s once flourishing garden beds.
‘‘Gardening has been my saviour really,’’ she said.
Rokeni and his siblings, Juliette and Anthony, had been hugely helpful and a blessing as she battled in her recovery. Despite her life of struggle and difficulty since the crash, she was grateful she had survived.
‘‘My daughter keeps saying ‘Well mum, you are still here’.’’
