By Sally Rawsthorne and Sarah Keoghan
The first of five teenagers killed in a crash in Buxton last week has been farewelled, with four more funerals to come in the next four days as the community south-west of Sydney continues to grapple with the tragedy.
Tyrese Bechard, 15, was farewelled on Thursday at a funeral in a Picton church with a “huge turnout”, Wollondilly Shire Mayor Matt Gould said.
The five teenagers who died in the Buxton car crash. Clockwise from main: Lily Van de Putte, Summer Williams, Gabby McLennan, Tyrese Bechard and Antonio Desisto.
“Today was incredibly difficult right across the shire, it’s incredibly sad and this is just the first of five,” he said.
“It’s going to be a difficult few days, particularly for our young people; some of them have lost five friends.”
The funerals of Lily Van de Putte, 14, Gabby McLennan, 15, Summer Williams, 14, and Antonio Desisto, 16, will follow.
Picton High School, which all the dead children attended, will move to remote learning until Monday as students mourn.
The school said on its Facebook page, “Many of our students, who will attend the services, may find the ceremonies upsetting and confronting. We will have staff attending the services but please, where possible, attend with your children, to assist them through this difficult time as they show support for their friends.”
The Wollondilly Shire Council is encouraging residents to display balloons in the victims’ favourite colours outside their homes.
“They’re completely sold out, you can’t find any balloons anywhere in the shire,” Gould said.
Residents have been asked to display sky-blue balloons for Gabby, pink for Summer and Lily, grey for Antonio and orange and black for Tyrese.
The council is asking people to display the balloons until the last of the funerals is held early next week.
Gould said a Mayoral Relief Fund – usually activated during natural disasters – was set up last week to provide the victims’ families with financial relief and has raised tens of thousands of dollars.
The council has contributed $3000 to the mayoral fund while a separate online fundraiser has almost reached $18,000.
Tyrell Edwards, the 18-year-old driver of the overloaded ute, remains on remand in Silverwater prison after being refused bail in Picton Local Court last week on five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death.
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