Muriwai tragedy: Ute driver on MDMA sentenced for killing Madison Chamberlain

• Jesse Hodge, 21, was sentenced at the Waitākere District Court today to nine months’ home detention, six months’ post-detention conditions, and an 18-month disqualification from driving for dangerous driving causing death and driving under the influence of MDMA.
• Madison Chamberlain, 19, died in January 2024 after Hodge flipped the ute she was on, crushing her.
• Hodge was on a restricted licence and had owned the ute for only a week.
• Madison’s grieving father, Tony Chamberlain, blames Hodge for his daughter’s death.

The father of Madison Chamberlain delivered an emotional statement when Jesse Hodge was sentenced today at the Waitākere District Court, saying he hoped Hodge would be haunted by his daughter’s death for the rest of his life.

Hodge was sentenced to nine months’ home detention and six months of post-detention conditions – including no drugs or alcohol – for dangerous driving and causing the death of Madison “Madi” Chamberlain, 19, while under the influence of MDMA.

He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

Jesse Hodge flipped his vehicle while driving on Muriwai Beach, resulting in the death of 19-year-old Madison Chamberlain. Photo / Dean Purcell

Chamberlain died when Hodge, 21, flipped his Toyota Hilux utility vehicle on Muriwai Beach in January 2024.

Her grieving father, Tony Chamberlain, said Hodge was reckless and his daughter’s death was avoidable.

Chamberlain, 45, said he would never forgive Hodge, who pleaded guilty in March last year to charges of dangerous driving and causing death while under the influence of MDMA.

Tony Chamberlain blames the driver for being reckless and tearing his family apart. From left – Tony Chamberlain, Hunter (foreground), Jonni-Rose, Dayna and Madison.

In an emotional victim impact statement, he said he blamed Hodge for being reckless and hoped he would be haunted by Madi’s death for the rest of his life.

Chamberlain and his wife Dayna, along with Madi’s younger siblings – Jonni-Rose, 18, and Hunter, 14 – were still reeling from her death, he said.

Chamberlain read his statement to a full courtroom:

“Jesse Hodge, you are not our daughter’s friend, and never will be. I regret inviting you into our home. We can only hope that Madi haunts you forever.

“The effect that this tragedy has had on our close-knit family is life-changing.

“Finding out she had been crushed so badly that we couldn’t have an open casket to grieve properly, going to see her ... and her hands being the only recognisable feature.

“To see her little sister and brother’s reactions hurts more than you can imagine,” he said.

“Madi was a beautiful soul, full of life. Her laughter echoed throughout our home ... her future was bright with so many possibilities. She had a boyfriend and friends any parent would be proud of. But in an instant, all of this was stolen from her and us.”

Madi Chamberlain with her father, Tony.

In the Waitākere District Court for the prosecution, Fiona Culliney said Hodge drove dangerously and erratically on MDMA, deliberately swerving with Madison on the back of the tray.

He also drove a manual vehicle when the terms of his restricted licence limited him to driving an automatic. She recommended an 18-month disqualification on his driving licence.

Culliney said a discount of 10% to 15% was warranted because of Hodge’s age and the fact he was a first-time offender, and because Hodge had asked for restorative justice – though the family did not want to take part.

He had pleaded guilty early, so a home detention sentence would be appropriate given his age and the fact he had not previously offended, she said.

For the defence, Graeme Newell said Hodge had been to rehabilitation.

He initiated therapy for himself and continued to attend appointments.

“He has taken responsibility for his actions and has remorse,” he said.

Newell said Hodge had confronted his drug abuse and completed an advanced driving skills course and a Right Track nine-week programme.

Corrections said there was a low risk of reoffending.

He did not recommend a custodial sentence and recommended home detention.

The family responded with, “Good grief”.

Tony Chamberlain's daughter Madison was killed at Muriwai Beach. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Judge Maria Pecotic said in sentencing there must be consistency with similar cases.

“Nobody plans to cause harm, serious accidents happen.”

She told Madison’s family nothing she could say would make up for the loss of their precious daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister, cousin and girlfriend.

She said Hodge received discounts on a starting point of four years imprisonment for expressing remorse, accepting the consequences of his actions, pleading guilty early, being young and having no previous convictions.

A supporter of the Chamberlain family called out, “It’s a discount fire sale!” and was ushered out of the court.

The judge handed down a sentence of nine months’ home detention, followed by six months of post-detention conditions – including no drugs and alcohol.

She also disqualified Hodge from driving for 18 months.

The maximum penalty for a drug-driving charge is 10 years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine, while a three-month jail term or $4500 is the maximum for dangerous driving.

The accident occurred on January 21 last year, when Madi and a group of friends, including Hodge, travelled to Muriwai Beach.

Hodge had obtained his restricted licence in March 2022. He drove along the beach that day at about 70km/h despite the 60km/h speed limit.

A condition of his restricted licence was that he could drive only automatic vehicles. The 1991 Toyota Hilux he drove that day was a manual vehicle Hodge had purchased a week earlier.

The driver on MDMA who killed Madison Chamberlain was on a restricted licence and was permitted to drive only an automatic vehicle. His ute was a manual.

The group paused for a break and the teenagers changed their seating arrangements: two of them, including Madi, got into the vehicle’s open back tray.

According to the summary of facts, Hodge began swerving from side to side, doing “snakeys” or “swervys”.

The front wheels lodged into a patch of soft sand during a right turn, sending Madi and her friend in the ute’s tray flying as it flipped and rolled.

During the roll, the ute “impacted” on Madi, who died from “instant” non-survivable injuries.

Madison Chamberlain, 19, was killed when a ute flipped over and crushed her. Her father Tony says the family are haunted by her loss.

Chamberlain said Madi’s death had not been just emotional, there were also financial repercussions on the family.

The builder and landscape gardener said he had been so overwhelmed by anxiety and grief at times he had not been able to function.

He told the Herald he nearly lost the family home and could not afford to pay their power and phone bills.

Tony Chamberlain says his daughter Madison's death has impacted his family in every way – including financially. From left: Tony, Sue (grandmother) Jonni-Rose, Dayna, Brian (grandfather) and Madison Chamberlain.

The family were furious Hodge’s sentencing had been delayed until now, allowing him to attend The Right Track, a programme for high-risk and criminal drivers.

“That prolonged our pain,” Chamberlain said. “I believe he took the course to lighten his sentence and get credit points, which angers me.

“It looks good – like you’re sorting your life out. The whole thing is a lie at the expense of us having to be put through this anguish. He should have been directed to do a course at the sentencing. Did they think of us? It says a lot about Jesse and his family,” he said.

Madison Chamberlain went to Green Bay High School then worked at the New World supermarket in New Lynn.

Madi Chamberlain left Green Bay High School at the end of 2022 and worked as a checkout operator at the New World Supermarket in New Lynn.

Her grandmother, Sue Chamberlain, said her granddaughter grew in confidence when she started working and was planning to apply for a job with Air New Zealand as a flight attendant.

In her victim impact statement, Sue said Madi’s death was preventable.

“He put her life at risk, killed her and killed our family.”

Sue Chamberlain, here with Madison's dad Tony, says she would have gladly given her life for her granddaughter. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Sue Chamberlain told the Herald her family declined to participate in a restorative justice process, and it had been hard to wait 62 weeks to address the court.

“I close my eyes and see Madi. I miss her quirky sense of humour, the TV voices she could imitate, and her special smell in the car. I wake up and relive the nightmare that is now my life, wondering how we can go on.

“We are the ones who have been given a life sentence. We have seen the social media posts of you partying and enjoying life, moving on unlike the rest of us.

“I would have gladly given my life for Madi that day. I will never forgive you.”

Tony Chamberlain says he hasn't stopped crying himself to sleep since Madison's death last year.

Tony Chamberlain made a plea to the judge.

“The pain of losing a child is a burden no parent should have to bear, knowing that it could have been prevented. Since that day, our lives have been a constant struggle. We have been engulfed in waves of grief, anger, and disbelief. Our lives will never be the same.

“We ask for a sentence that reflects the gravity of Jesse Hodge’s actions, not only as a means of closure for me and our family, but one that honours the memory of our beautiful daughter and helps prevent future tragedies. We love you forever, our baby girl.”

Sue Chamberlain told Hodge that because of his actions the family would never see Maddie marry or fulfil her dreams.

“Jesse, you took an amazing human from us. If you weren’t high on drugs, would you have slowed down?

“This was no accident, you have showed no remorse.

“I hope you rot in hell.”

After the sentencing, the family told the Herald Hodge had not looked at them. “He gave us no respect”.

They were aggrieved they had been prevented by court security from taking Madi’s ashes to the sentencing. “She’s probably sitting in the Henderson carpark,” they said. “We’re gutted.”

Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.