Hastings van-rammer pleads guilty to attack that 'degloved' partner's face

The van-ramming incident made headlines in February. Photo / File

The man behind an early morning van-ramming rampage in Hastings has admitted the attack which left half his partner's face "degloved".

Raquada-Charles Edwards, 24, appeared in the Napier District Court this afternoon and pleaded guilty to male assaults female, assault with a weapon, reckless driving causing injury, threatening to kill and two charges of breaching a protection order.

The Havelock North man chased his partner from the Gull service station on Omahu Rd on February 5 and rammed the fruit pickers' van she was hiding in several times before fleeing the scene.

The woman, under a protection order served on Edwards three months before, had dealt with a number of arguments and assaults in the days leading up to the attack and was only with him that day because he lied to her.

Early that morning the defendant woke the victim at a relative's address and told her she had to return to her father's home to look after their children as her father had to go to work. This was a lie.

As the pair drove away from the address, Edwards driving his partner's car, they began arguing and Edwards accused her of cheating on him.

He got a large metal spanner out of driver's door and hit the woman's thigh five to six times, causing welts, and smashed the front passenger window.

The woman considered jumped from the moving vehicle but the defendant said they needed gas and drove to the Gull service station.

When he went into the shop to pay for the petrol she noticed a white orchard van on the forecourt and ran over to the van, immediately letting herself in and locking the door.

She asked those in the van if they could take her to the police station but Edwards came out of the shop, rushed over to the vehicle and tried to open the door.

He banged on the van windows, telling those in the van to stop, but the driver took off, forcing Edwards to let go of the vehicle.

He jumped into the woman's car and pursued the van down Omahu Rd; both vehicles speeding and overtaking other motorists.

As he rammed the van several times its occupants became increasingly upset and the woman repeatedly apologised to them.

At one point she lost her seating and suffered serious wounds to her face while another occupant was injured after being catapulted through the van.

The driver of the van eventually stopped at the roundabout on Grays Rd and Heretaunga St West in the hopes that the defendant would also stop but he rammed the van as it sat stationary, and then reversed before ramming it again.

Edwards got out of the car and approached the van, yelling at its occupants that his conduct was all the victim's fault.

The driver was so frightened she jumped onto the front passenger's lap and later described his eyes as "angry eyes".

His attempts to get at the woman were futile because the doors were either locked or jammed shut due to damage and he got back into his car and sped off.

His victim, terrified he would return, tried to run away but the van's occupants restrained her as she had significant facial injuries.

Most of the right side of her face was "degloved" and she had a small bleed on her brain, as well as lacerations and bruising on her body.

She was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital and then transferred to Wellington as she required plastic surgery.

There were six others in the van who received injuries and one person had to be cut from the van by emergency and fire services.

He had a suspected broken spine, broken ribs, punctured lung, dislocated shoulder and large lacerations and required seven weeks off work to recover.

Edwards was arrested on March 8 after featuring on Police Ten 7 in early March.

Thisafternoon Judge Geoff Rea convicted Edwards and remanded him custody to next appear for sentencing on June 29.