Charlee Neven: Tubbut, Victoria, buggy crash teen victim remembered as ‘the light and sunshine’ of her family

Elisia Seeber
The Nightly
Charlee Neven, 13, died in a tragic buggy crash near the Victoria-NSW border.
Charlee Neven, 13, died in a tragic buggy crash near the Victoria-NSW border. Credit: GoFundMe

A teenage girl who died in a tragic buggy crash near the Victoria-NSW border at the weekend has been remembered as “the sunshine” of her family in a heartfelt post.

Charlee Neven, 13, and a 47-year-old driver died when the buggy they were travelling in, with another child and adult, rolled at a property in Victoria’s far east, late Saturday night.

Emergency services were called just before 11pm to reports of a crash in Tubbut, about 120 kilometres north of Orbost in East Gippsland.

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The Gippsland teenager and driver from NSW were found dead at the scene. A second child was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while the adult passenger was treated for minor injuries.

Close family friend Yvonne Evie Unthank, who has set up a fundraiser to support the family, said Charlee, nicknamed Choo, was a “beautiful” teen who brought “joy and love” wherever she went.

“On Saturday, 5th of October, we lost our beautiful Choo in a tragic accident,” she wrote on GoFundMe.

“It is more than we can comprehend at the moment.”

Unthank described Charlee as “the light and the sunshine in our family and to her friends and community”.

“She brought joy and love as she sped through every adventure she could find,” she wrote.

Unthank hoped the fundraiser would give Charlee’s parents Mark and Lauren “time to grieve without worrying about paying bills”.

“We are here because people have asked how they can help,” the post read.

The fundraiser has so far raised more than $7,000.

Police are continuing to investigate the crash.

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