Mum desperately rushes to dying teen’s hospital bedside – but was too late and unable to say her final goodbye
- Malakai Chase, 19, died in Perth car crash
- His mother flew to WA from New Zealand
The grief-stricken mother of a teenager who died after ploughing his car into a tree was unable to farewell her son before he passed away in hospital.
Malakai Chase, 19, was critically injured after his car collided with a tree on Scarborough Beach Road, northwest Perth, at about midnight on Friday.
The budding rugby league star was on his way to a local skatepark when he veered off the road and crashed, with his 19-year-old passenger still recovering in hospital.
Malakai’s mother Lana Gideoa immediately jumped on a plane from New Zealand to Western Australia in hopes to see him in Royal Perth Hospital, 9News reports.
Sadly, she was unable to give her son one final farewell. The 19-year-old passed away surrounded by relatives before her plane touched down in Perth.
Lana Gideoa (pictured right) described her eldest son Malakai (left) as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ kid who ‘never got into trouble’. He sadly died after crashing into a tree on Friday night
Ms Gideoa described her eldest son, who was one of 10 siblings, as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ kid who ‘never got into trouble’.
She said her nine other children were struggling to comprehend the loss.
The talented rugby player was most recently a fullback for the North Beach Sea Eagles and had dreams of playing professionally.
Family and friends have gathered at the crash site on Sunday to leave tributes to the teenager, with flowers and a gaming console seen perched against a tree.
His grandparents flew from the east coast to farewell the teenager.
Family member Cindy Lancheres said his father had been by the 19-year-old’s bedside before he died in hospital early on Saturday.
‘We just laid in his son’s bed, we just lay there talking, remembering like we just couldn’t make sense of anything,’ she said.
Malakai Chase, 19, was critically injured after his car collided with a tree on Scarborough Beach Road, northwest Perth, at about midnight on Friday
The budding rugby league player was most recently a fullback for the North Beach Sea Eagles
Ms Lancheres said Malakai was ‘definitely going to be somebody’, adding that he was ‘very cheeky, very funny, always lit up the room’.
WA Police Inspector Vic Hussey said the scene had been ‘confronting’ for first responders and members of the public who stepped in to help.
‘The engine in the vehicle has actually come into the passenger area,’ he told 9News.
‘The vehicle is in a really, really bad state and it was pretty hard for us to actually work out what sort of car it was when we arrived.’
Major crash detectives will continue their investigation.
