So Sadly : A tragic detail shows the sixteen-year-old girl’s last moments as she was slain while on a dream road trip to see Taylor Swift perform…

So Sadly : A tragic detail shows the sixteen-year-old girl's last moments as she was slain while on a dream road trip to see Taylor Swift perform...

 

Mieka Pokarier, 16, was killed when the SUV she was travelling in with her mother and sister collided with a semi-trailer near Dubbo about 6pm on Thursday.

 

So Sadly : A tragic detail shows the sixteen-year-old girl's last moments as she was slain while on a dream road trip to see Taylor Swift perform...
A teenage girl who died in a horrific car crash during a road trip to see singer Taylor Swift in concert had been listening to the superstar’s music when tragedy struck.

The family had been driving to Melbourne from the Gold Coast on the ‘trip of a lifetime’ to see Swift perform on the Australian leg of her Eras tour.

Mieka’s younger sister Freya Pokarier, 10, was seriously injured in the crash on Dunedoo Road, at Ballimore, and was airlifted to Westmead Hospital.

The screen of Mieka’s iPad, which remained eerily unscathed in the crash, shows she had the pop icon’s song ‘All of the Girls You Loved Before’ open in the moments before she died, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The song she had been listening to as part of her carefully assembled playlist was recorded during sessions for Swift’s 2019 album Lover, but was only released in March 2023 to mark the global launch of the tour Mieka was so excited to see.

The mother of the two girls, Kim Litchfield, who was driving the SUV, sustained several injuries and was also taken to Dubbo Hospital.

Godmother to the sisters, Karleigh Fox, said Freya was fighting for life in a coma with brain injuries, a broken pelvis and a broken leg.

On Saturday night Ms Fox gave an update in which she said both she and the girls’ father Peter Pokarier had flown down to Westmead to be with Freya and that her mother has also been released from Dubbo Hospital and had ‘reunited with her baby’.

‘We are playing her favourite Taylor Swift album ‘1989 Taylor’s Version’ on repeat in her room and telling her about the merch we are seeing people buying on line,’ she said.

‘It takes five people just to roll her to check for marks which could turn to bed sores from being in the same position in her induced coma.’

Ms Fox said the family was struggling to ‘navigate even just learning the layout of the hospital, process the complex trauma to our little one’s organs and process the deep loss of our 16 year old’.

‘We had some thorough chats with the incredible doctors about the prognosis and we are not out of the woods yet with risks of swelling in the brain and infection still evident. This could still be life threatening,’ she said.

‘We were amazed to learn that our darling had eight blood transfusions plus other blood products by the ambulances on site.

One unit is one donation, so if you have time this week please go and donate at your local blood bank – what a priceless gift you can give for free to humanity.

‘All medical staff need a raise and we are beyond grateful to Ronald McDonald House for giving four of us in hospital accommodation.

‘Any time you go drive through Maccas throw some change in the McHappy Day box because these guys just saved us so many logistical nightmares navigating supporting our girl in a town not of our own.

‘We are keeping our girl in an induced coma for a few more days in order to give her body a chance to stay still and hopefully recover as much as possible.’

Ms Fox added that they are preparing for when Freya is conscious.

‘We will then see a whole lot of anxiety and distress from her and potential carer burnout for Mama, as that’s the person our girl is going to want the most.

‘Mama is still very sore, bruised up and slow. Dad and big sis are amazing and we are all working together as a team navigating this process.

‘We are so lucky we are in Australia the medical system into be so well cared for.

We wish we had access to our 16 year old and hoping to be reunited within weeks to start our celebration of life that we haven’t even started planning yet. Things you never think you’ll have to do.’

Mieka was understood to have been sitting in the front passenger seat when the crash occurred.

The driver of the semi-trailer had minor injuries and was taken to Dubbo Hospital in a stable condition.

The Gold Coast-based family were heading down to Melbourne ahead of Swift’s sold-out concert at the MCG.

The pop superstar kicked off the Australian leg of her Eras tour in Melbourne on Friday night with around 96,000 fans in attendance.

Images from the scene in the aftermath of the crash show plumes of thick, black smoke rising into the sky.

A GoFundMe page was set up on Friday to raise money for the shattered family.

‘The family have all had to cease work to fly down and I’m trying to get a flight to support the mum as she’s alone in Dubbo until we can get her to Sydney,’ Ms Fox said.

‘Funds will be used to function in this challenging time.’

Mr Pokarier, the girl’s father, also shared a link to the Go FundMe.

He said his family is ‘what I live for, I’m devastated’.

Tributes have also flowed from friends on social media.

Cheyenne Craig said Mieka was learning to drive.

‘How is it fair that someone as sweet and beautiful as you was taken away from us so soon?,’ she wrote to social media.

‘Mieka was the sweetest, most down to earth person you could’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, her stupid jokes that always made no sense but somehow always made you laugh… and the way we would spend the entire day talking about concerts.’