Family Meets 'Mystery Soldier' Who Saved Childs Life with CPR

January 1, 2023

Charlie Toetoe says his 6-year-old son Kharlo-Rae Pirini-Kiel wouldn’t be alive to see the new year had it not been for a stranger who jumped out of his car to revive his badly injured child.

After nearly a week of trying to track down the mystery man, Toetoe finally got to meet and thank army enlistee Matthew Denton, 21, after the Herald facilitated a reunion at his home on Sunday afternoon.

Kharlo-Rae was playing with his cousins by a pool in front of the house when a car backed out of the driveway and hit him on December 27.

The Manurewa schoolboy was pinned under the car and neighbours rushed to help him.

It took 12 people to lift the car and pull Kharlo-Rae out, Toetoe said.

Denton, who was driving by at the time, saw the commotion and stopped his car.

“There was this crowd, I initially thought they were playing tag or something, then I saw this boy lying lifeless there,” he said.

Denton said he tried to feel for a pulse and there was none.

“That’s when I start doing compressions, then started performing CPR. When he started talking we knew he’s out of it, but the whole thing was definitely terrifying,” Denton said.