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Carolina Te Rupe and Tama Te Kira were killed in a car accident near Macraes, Otago.
They had been a couple since high school and had four young children together, but their lives ended tragically.
Kararaina Te Rupe, 27, and Tama Te Kira, 28, of Palmerston in Otago, were killed in a single-vehicle accident on Macraes Back Rd north of Dunedin on Saturday just before midnight.
The couple have left behind four children, ages 4 to 9, who were “struggling,” said family spokeswoman Marion Te Rupe of Ashburton.
“They have a lot of support.”
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Te Rupe said that her niece was “an absolutely devoted mother.”
“She and Tama did everything with their children.”
The couple, who grew up in Wellington and Taranaki, had been together for 11 years.
“They were sweethearts in high school,” Te Rupe said of the stay-at-home parents.
The two were each from a great whanau, who was now coming together to support the grieving children.
It was not the only tragedy to hit Te Rupe whanau in recent times, with Kararaina Te Rupe’s uncle, Joeroa Te Rupe, 47, killed in a shooting in Foxton in October last year.
Tragically, his sister, Jocelyn Te Rupe, died two days later while the whanau awaited the return of her body.
” This all happened in one year, ” said Marion Te Rupe, who lost a third brother to cancer.
John Bisset / Stuff
Aerial view of Macraes, a small rural town 100 kilometers north of Dunedin.
The family was not clear about the cause of the accident on Saturday.
Eight people were killed on New Zealand roads over the weekend.
Police said they were not in a position to comment.
Te Rupe said that some whanau had struggled to get to Dunedin, about an hour south of Macraes, and a Givealittle page had been created to help them and the couple’s children.
Details of a joint tangi for the couple have yet to be confirmed.
