Tee Weka was killed yesterday in a car crash near Ingham

The victim of a tragic single-vehicle car crash on the outskirts of Ingham yesterday afternoon has been identified as a well-regarded Indigenous musician and the son of highly respected Catholic Education teachers.

Tee Weka (left) celebrating his last birthday.

The victim of a tragic single-vehicle car crash on the outskirts of Ingham yesterday afternoon has been identified as a well-regarded Indigenous musician and the son of highly respected Catholic Education teachers.

Tee Weka, affectionately known as Torres and of Papua New Guinean ethnicity, was killed when his body was ejected from his utility vehicle travelling from his work as a residential supervisor at St Teresa’s Catholic College Abergowrie to his newly purchased home in Ingham.

Tee Weka (right).

The former Kirwan State High School student, 27, leaves behind a grieving partner who is five month’s pregnant with their first child, as well as his parents, Abergowrie College teachers Toru and Lausi Weka, formerly of Townsville.

Friends and family from Cairns to Townsville were today gathered at Mr and Mrs Weka’s home in Trebonne, Hinchinbrook, still struggling to fathom not only their profound personal losses but also the loss to the wider North Queensland community.

“He’s got millions of friends, he’s loved by so many people,” best friend Hepa Haretuku said.

“I can’t fathom how many people loved him and actually considered him as more than just friends, dear friends … like a sibling.

“He never had materialistic things, he never had money, nothing like that, it was literally just his personality, who he was as a person, his intentions, the good heart that he had: he brought people together and it wasn’t like just a few friends here and there.”

Mr Haretuku said his “brother” was a highly gifted musician who could play the guitar, piano and drums, as well as sing like an angel.

Tee Weka, affectionately known as Torres and of Papua New Guinean ethnicity, was a residential supervisor at St Teresa's Catholic College Abergowrie, a boarding school. This is a frame grab from a song of encouragement to students quarantined in their homes and unable to attend school.

He said the pair were band mates in Townsville band UP2YOU and that Mr Weka was a graduate of the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney.

“I’ve been on the phone to all his friends down there, they’ve reached out and tried to make contact, ‘how do we get to Townsville?’, ‘how can we be part of this?’, considering all the COVID restrictions, ‘what can we do?’, ‘what can we do?’, ‘what can we do?’,” he said.

“Everyone is absolutely shattered and no one can believe what has actually happened, which is the hardest thing.”

Mr Haretuku said Mr Weka was an inspiration and a mentor to countless members of younger generations.

Mr Tee Weka could play the piano, drums and guitar, as well as sing like an angel, a friend said.

“He had a huge amount of love to give.”

He said he had been talking to his friend the same day of the accident.

“We were just talking sh-t all day basically, and then I get a phone call at like six o’clock, someone rang me hysterical, ‘he’s in a car accident, he’s dead’,” he said.

“It was f--king devastating.”

Mr Haretuku said it was too early to consider funeral arrangements, particularly given the COVID-19 climate.

Originally published as Tee Weka was killed yesterday in a car crash near Ingham