Woman jumps out of moving car after being told ‘you are going to die today’

Jade Mellow attacked a woman in his car but as he got on to the Ohiniwai off-ramp, she jumped for safety. Photo / Mike Scott

A woman who was being punched and threatened by a man ended up jumping out of a moving car to get away from him.

Jade Raymond Mellow then did his best to try to get the woman back, crashing into two cars, with his own ending up in flames and stealing another.

It all started on July 8 last year when Mellow rang the woman and demanded to know where she was.

She reluctantly told him after he threatened to shoot her mother, who had care of her children.

He then drove to the Huntly motel, before getting out and walking around, shouting for her to come out.

Fearing for her safety, the victim got in the car and Mellow headed north on the Waikato expressway, hitting her with his elbow and the back of his left hand as he accused her of having sex with a “westside n******”.

They continued north and Mellow repeatedly threatened to kill her, saying he had been “waiting three days for this”.

“Wait till we get there, I’m going to f****en kill you ... you are going to die today.”

As he drove onto the Ohinewai off-ramp, the victim climbed into the back of the car and as he approached the roundabout, she jumped out of the rear door.

Mellow reversed his vehicle at speed narrowly missing other vehicles to get to her, as the woman yelled “help, help” at passing cars.

He got out of his Suzuki and chased her before she managed to get into a woman’s Mercedes, telling her to “please go”.

Mellow managed to catch up and ram the Mercedes, however, the woman was able to speed off, heading towards Te Kauwhata police station.

Meanwhile, Mellow lost track of them before ramming a similar-looking vehicle that had stopped at lights on the Rangiriri off-ramp.

The impact shunted the vehicle through a red light. The driver looked in her rear-view mirror and saw Mellow approaching two other vehicles, which drove away as he approached them.

Mellow got back in his car which then caught fire.

Another member of the public stopped to help, but Mellow stole his car instead.

It was found, with no damage, in Paeroa three days later.

Mellow appeared for sentencing on multiple driving, threatening, and assault charges in the Hamilton District Court last week.

His counsel, Shelley Gilbert, first highlighted Mellow’s distress after he was dubbed not to have come out of his cell for his pre-sentence report interview.

Gilbert said he’d moved prisons days before and it was “somewhat inexplicable” that the prisons involved, Mt Eden and Spring Hill, could get that wrong.

“That did cause him a bit of distress and perhaps, your honour, will see why given his experience with state authorities as set out in the cultural report has been really traumatic.

“And then when another state department says he hasn’t been complying is more than frustrating for him.”

She added his cultural report covered “numerous circumstances” in her client’s life, which saw him exposed to deprivation, violence, neglect, gangs, drugs, and “significant loss”.

He was yet to explore it all but was now open to it, she said, and now wanted to move forward and focus on his children.

“What he went through as a young child he doesn’t want his two young children to go through the same experiences ... that’s the real motivation for him.”

He was also keen to get his full facial tattoo removed.

Judge Glen Marshall agreed to take his Section 27 report into account which he described as “pretty horrific reading”.

“No one should have had the upbringing that you have had,” he said.

Mellow was jailed for 24 months but is now eligible for parole due to time already served in custody.

Belinda Feek has been a reporter for 19 years, and at the Herald for eight years, joining the Open Justice team in 2022.