Jade Mellow imprisoned for shooting at police, holding man hostage near Edgecumbe

Jade Mellow, appearing in court via audio-visual link, was sentenced to five years and nine months' imprisonment.

A patched Mongrel Mob member, who had already fired shots at police, held a rifle to the head of the 74-year-old man he was holding hostage and yelled: “I’ll f***ing kill him.”

Jade Mellow was at the end of a rampage and on the run from href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/nz-police/" target="_self">police.

He was off his ADHD medication, had been on a three-day methamphetamine binge and thought the gangs were after him when police found him sitting in a stolen car with fake plates, on the side of State Highway 30 near Edgecumbe.

It was 10pm and police didn’t initially realise Mellow was in the car, they just saw the vehicle on the side of the road and thought it was suspicious.

Two officers pulled up behind it and then heard a popping noise.

It was only when they were beside the car that they recognised Mellow, saw he was pointing a cut-down .22 calibre rifle at them and realised he had fired shots in their direction.

The police drove 300m down the road and called for back-up as Mellow ran off on foot.

He went into a nearby property and asked the occupant, Kara-Lee Namana-Kelly, if he could take her truck as the police were after him.

She said no and he left.

He went further down the road to another woman’s house, where he banged on her ranch slider.

Ann Mauren Clark saw he was holding a rifle and wouldn’t let him in.

He picked up a pot plant to bang on the door before going to the roller garage door and trying to force it open.

Clark let him in the house and Mellow took her keys and left in her Hyundai.

Road spikes had been put on State Highway 30 and, realising there was no way out, Mellow drove into a property on Hydro Rd, Edgecumbe, crashing through an electric gate.

At the property were Richard Hayes and his wife, who lived in the main house, and 74-year-old Edward Attwood, who lived in the semi-detached unit.

The noise woke Attwood who, peering through the curtain, saw Mellow screaming and yelling.

Mellow went towards Attwood, pointing the rifle at him, and said: “The cops are after me, give me your keys.”

Attwood said: “You’re not having my f***ing keys.”

Mellow hit him in the face, first with his fist, then with the steel part of the rifle.

Attwood fell to the ground, bleeding and dazed.

Meanwhile, in the main house, the Hayes' dog started barking, which woke Richard Hayes.

He saw Attwood lying on the floor of the unit, bleeding.

He went to check on him and Mellow pointed the rifle at him and said: “You better f*** off before I shoot you and your dog.”

Hayes returned to the house, while Mellow dragged Attwood across the unit and into a bedroom, where he propped him up against the bed.

Police, including the Armed Offenders Squad, arrived at the Hydro Rd address.

They asked him to come out peacefully, but Mellow replied, saying “I’ve got a f***ing hostage in here” and “No, you c**ts will f***ing shoot me.”

At one point during the negotiations, Mellow held the barrel of the rifle to Attwood’s temple and yelled: “I’ll f***ing kill him.”

Mellow continued to be agitated, pulling drawers from the dresser and throwing them at the windows, shattering the glass.

After two hours, he gave himself up and was arrested.

At sentencing in the Whakatāne District Court today, Judge Melinda Mason acknowledged the role Mellow’s drug use disorder had in the offending.

His dependence on methamphetamine, which he’d been introduced to as a 12-year-old, went beyond an addiction and was considered a “disorder”, according to a pre-sentence report.

She also accepted that before the offending, he’d been denied access to his medication before being released from prison.

“I can’t understand why ... particularly before you were released into the community,” Judge Mason said.

“It seems that your ADHD is a significant factor in your reckless behaviour.”

Mellow had a “horrific” childhood and Judge Mason said the reports about the extent of the abuse he’d suffered in state care, and throughout his childhood, were some of the worst she’d ever read.

He had been homeless, had early exposure to gangs and was excluded from school when he was 9.

“You went without any care, attention and support in life,” Judge Mason said.

However, this had to be tempered against the seriousness of the offending.

Mellow also had a significant history, in which he had been “sentenced to imprisonment every year for the past 14 years”.

However, Judge Mason acknowledged that Mellow appeared to be taking steps to distance himself from the gangs, including being in the early stages of having tattoos removed and voluntarily being kept separate while in custody.

Mellow had also offered to take part in restorative justice and seemed to have genuine remorse for his actions.

He was given discounts for background factors, addiction, remorse and his early guilty plea. He was also given an uplift for previous offending.

Mellow received an end sentence of five years and nine months' imprisonment.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.