Four years jail for man after Hastings van ramming

Raquada-Charles Edwards rammed the van several times while racing through morning-rush traffic on February 5. Photo / Paul Taylor

A man's day-after-day series of attacks on his former partner which ended in his apparently meth-crazed ramming of a van into which she leapt for refuge at a Hastings petrol station has resulted in him being sentenced to four years' jail.

The sentence was imposed on 25-year-old Raquada-Charles Edwards when he appeared before Judge Bridget Mackintosh in Napier District Court today, having previously pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, threatening to kill, reckless driving causing injury, assaulting a female and breaching a protection order.

The violence started after Edwards collected the woman from a relative's home on the morning of February 5, claiming he was returning her to her father's home to look after the children.

But soon afterwards, he took a large spanner from a pocket in the driver's door and struck the woman several times on her thighs, and smashed a passenger's side window.

When Edwards stopped at an Omahu Rd service station to refuel, the woman spotted an orchard crew's van and leapt into the vehicle asking to be taken to the nearest police station.

As they left with her Edwards took chase, and rammed the van several times, racing through the morning-rush traffic, including when the van stopped in Heretaunga St W, with the woman further injured when she fell from a seat during the chase and an orchard worker also injured because of the repeated impacts.

The woman was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital and later transferred to Wellington for surgery.

Six others in the van also received injuries, including one who had to be extracted from the damaged van by emergency services before also being taken to hospital with multiple injuries.

Edwards fled after trying to get into the van as the woman cowered terrified inside.

He was on the run for more than a month, being featured in a Police Ten 7 television segment before being arrested and returned to Hawke's Bay.

In a victim impact statement the woman said the couple had had a good relationship until Edwards began using methampetamine.