Claudine Snow’s heartbreak ahead of two-year anniversary of her sister, mother’s death

A Queenslander who lost her entire family in one of the state’s worst-ever car crashes has a message for drivers during the festive season. See the video. Warning: Distressing

Clutching a purple soft toy, its fur tarred and a blood splatter on its back, this is the closest Claudine Snow can get to understanding the shocking final moments of two of her loved one’s lives.

“She didn’t go anywhere without this particular bear,” Mrs Snow said of her intellectually disabled sister Steffanie’s favourite toy.

“I knew this would have been on her and I eventually had it retrieved from the wreck (of one of the most horrific car crashes in Queensland history). Just knowing that she was holding this to the very end – she would have been very frightened.”

Watch Claudine tell her story in the video above.

A distraught Claudine Snow has spoken about the loss of her mum, stepdad and sister in a horror Bonogin crash. Picture: Nigel Hallett

A split second – one catastrophic event – tore Mrs Snow’s life to pieces. Her mother Susan Zimmer, 70, and sister Steffanie, 35, were killed instantly, alongside her mother’s 79-year-old partner Chris Fawcett, in a head-on collision at Bonogin in the Gold Coast hinterland area the night before New Year’s Eve in 2022.

“It doesn’t get easier to be honest. You just learn that it (loss) is a part of you,” Mrs Snow said, visiting the scene of the crash ahead of the two-year-anniversary.

“I lost my best friend in my mum. My sister was the life of the party, she was always smiling and you know when I think of her, I just think of that big cheeky grin. You can’t fill that void.

“I wake up every morning having to realise that they are gone.”

It was a normal afternoon, Susan and Steffanie had packed their bags in preparation for a long drive the following morning to Nambucca Heads in NSW to visit Mrs Snow and her children. They had decided to make a last-minute dash with Chris to the supermarket for bread and milk. At about 5pm they began the drive home, heading South along Bonogin Rd, but they would never make it.

Police allege Uiatu “Joan” Taufua – mother to New South Wales State of Origin and Brisbane Broncos NRL star Payne Haas – was driving under the influence, driving dangerously, and on the wrong side of the road trying to outrun police when her black 2017 Mercedes collided with the vehicle carrying the Zimmer family.

One of the vehicles wiped-out a power pole before bursting into flames. The other crumpled on impact. Ms Taufua – pulled free from her car, which had caught fire, was charged with three counts of manslaughter, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, evading police and unlicensed driving before a mid-range drink-driving charge was added at a subsequent court appearance in March, 2023.

Steffanie Zimmer (left) Susan Zimmer (right) died on the night before New Year’s Eve in 2022.

Chris Fawcett also died in the crash at Bonogin.

Three weeks ago, after a committal hearing in Southport Magistrates Court, Mrs Taufua was ordered to stand trial on the three counts of manslaughter at an as-yet unscheduled date in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

The remaining charges she faces will return to a magistrate court in June next year.

Meanwhile, for Mrs Snow, the wreckage images of the scene still haunt.

“It’s not a normal peaceful death,” Mrs Snow said.

“When you see their bodies afterwards – it’s not how I want to remember them but unfortunately it has stuck.

“Nobody should ever have to see their loved ones like that.”

Claudine Snow is given a hug at the scene of the crash. Picture: Richard Gosling

The sense of loss was compounded when the grieving Mrs Snow returned to live at her family home and the rooms full of memories from better times. The handwritten notes, collections of birthday and Christmas cards from years gone by, or the confronting discovery one day of the spare key to a vehicle that no longer exists. All are a painful reminder of lives that cannot be replaced or forgotten.

Susan, Steffanie and Chris were three of 295 people killed on Queensland roads in the same year. It was one of the worst 12 months for fatal crashes the state has ever seen. Since then 275 people were killed in traffic crashes in 2023, while 265 have died so far in 2024. As the holiday festive and New Year season draws closer, Mrs Snow is pleading with drivers to not put others at risk on our roads.

“Just think about your actions before you get behind the wheel,” Mrs Snow said.

“A lot of people just look at the numbers as just numbers – to me they’re not numbers. Three of those make up people that meant a lot to me. These people have names, they have faces and families. They’re not just a number.

“We could be doing more and we should be doing more, enough talking has been done. Let’s do something about it.”

Originally published as Claudine Snow’s heartbreak ahead of two-year anniversary of her sister, mother’s death