Man Jailed for Driving Car into Ex-Partner, Leaving Her in Fear and Pain

By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist, Waikato · 1 Aug, 2025 08:00 AM

Chad Lionel Erueti, 39, was sentenced to 28 and a half months in prison after a violent and deliberate act that left his ex-partner in fear for her life. The incident, which occurred last December, marked the latest in a long history of violent behavior by Erueti, who has repeatedly breached protection orders and shown a pattern of aggression over the past decade.

On the morning of December 9, Erueti texted the victim to say he was heading to her home in Tokoroa. He arrived around 40 minutes later and was repeatedly asked to leave. The couple argued, and Erueti, in a fit of anger, began kicking the victim’s car, causing damage. He then drove to the end of the street, turned around, and drove back toward her house at high speed.

The victim, fearing for her life, turned to face the oncoming car, hoping that breaking her legs would be preferable to breaking her back. The vehicle struck her, pinning her legs between the car and a retaining wall. The impact left her with severe pain and long-lasting physical and emotional trauma.

"I don’t feel like I can ever relax for fear of something bad happening," the victim said in a statement read by the judge. "There’s nothing really to stop him from just showing up... he’s done it before."

The victim described how she was left in constant anxiety, unable to sleep and terrified that Erueti would return. She also mentioned that the physical toll of the attack still affects her daily life, with certain activities causing her pain.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Tini Clark expressed frustration over Erueti’s repeated pattern of violence and non-compliance with protection orders. She noted that Erueti had been jailed in 2021 for similar offenses involving the same victim, and this incident was the most severe yet.

"None of this should have happened," the judge said. "It’s only by good luck than anything else that the victim was not more significantly hurt. It was not an accident or anything close to an accident."

Erueti’s defense sought home detention as an alternative to jail, citing his background and the fact that the victim did not suffer serious injuries. However, Judge Clark rejected this, emphasizing that the severity of the crime and Erueti’s history of violence made jail the only appropriate sentence.

"There’s just no way that anything can change in your life unless you do the mahi," the judge told Erueti. She also ruled that he would be disqualified from driving for six months.

The case has raised serious questions about how individuals with a history of domestic violence are managed within the justice system. Advocates for victims argue that more robust measures are needed to ensure that such individuals are not allowed to return to their victims’ lives without proper safeguards.

As the victim continues to recover from the emotional and physical trauma of the incident, the community is left to grapple with the implications of Erueti’s actions and the broader issue of domestic violence in New Zealand.