Father forgives car crash driver at teenage girl’s funeral
The father who lost his teenage daughter in a fiery crash said he forgives the car’s driver and urges others to do the same.
17-year-old Tayla Bray Alexander died last week after a car she was in veered off road and down a bank in Christchurch. Her younger sister, 15-year-old Sunmara suffered extensive burns and is still being treated in Auckland Hospital.
The driver, understood to be a 19-year-old man, has not been named.
Speaking at the girl’s funeral on Thursday, father Jason Alexander said the driver “was just a teenage boy” who made a “silly mistake”.
“I’d like to say right here and now that the driver was just a teenage boy himself and as teenagers, we all make silly mistakes,” he said. “I forgive him, I really do, and if I can forgive him so can everybody else.”
His daughter was a talented artist who was always looking to help others in need, he said.
“[You were] the first to come to the aid of the child who was being picked on in the sandpit by the other kids, right from the start you put others before yourself,” he said.
“If it wasn’t for this tragic accident you would’ve touched so many more souls in this life and pulled them out from the dark depths of depression.
“Fly high my princess, I’ll never forget the memories that we shared in the short time you were with me in this life.”