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• Grief-stricken parents are urging harsher penalties for drug-using drivers who cause fatal crashes. 
• Ella-Rose Donker and Madison Chamberlain were killed by drivers high on MDMA. 
• The parents have started a petition and pushing for stricter laws. 

Two sets of grief-stricken parents want judges to come down more harshly on drug-using drivers who kill and say the “pathetic” home detention sentences do not account for the loss of their daughters’ lives. 

Ella-Rose Donker, 18, and Madison “Madi” Chamberlain, 19, were killed in separate crashes caused by drivers high on MDMA. 

The girls’ parents have started a petition after the sentencing of the young male drivers, who each received no more than a year of home detention because of certain laws that allow sentence reductions. 

The parents say the laws no longer prevent people from getting behind the wheel when high on drugs. 

Ella-Rose Donker and Joshua Oliver Dobson – a shearer and father to a toddler – were killed when 21-year-old Jay Allen Mathewson lost control of his vehicle and crashed on Auckland’s Coatesville-Riverhead Highway on June 10, 2023. 

Kim and Robert Donker with their daughter Ella-Rose, who was 18 when she died in a car crash. 

Mathewson pleaded guilty to two charges of driving causing death while his blood contained a controlled substance – more than five times the level of MDMA considered a high risk for driving. 

He was handed down 12 months’ home detention and was disqualified from driving for three years. 

Donker’s father, Rob Donker, said he understood why younger people were kept out of jail, but something more needed to be done. 

“Do they actually learn anything? These young fellows, they just get to stay at mum and dad’s for 12 months. 

“We need to give harsher penalties so that there’s a consequence for their actions.” 

Ella-Rose's parents, Robert and Kim Donker, at her grave in Whangārei. 

Rob said he had been in contact with the coroner about the final report on Ella-Rose’s death to see what recommendations they would be making. 

He said he is pushing for the Government to consider harsher penalties but also an acceleration on the roadside drug-testing trials. 

“They say the tests are not 100% accurate yet, but even if one person gets a false positive and gets inconvenienced for one night, is that not worth it to save someone’s life? 

“I think it will be enough to make these boys think twice, think they may actually get caught. Right now, they don’t.” 

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

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

He was sentenced to nine months of home detention and six months of post-detention conditions – including no drugs or alcohol – for dangerous driving and causing the death of Chamberlain while under the influence of MDMA. 

Last month, during Hodge’s sentencing, Chamberlain’s grieving father, Tony Chamberlain, blamed Hodge for being reckless and hoped he would be haunted by Madi’s death for the rest of his life. 

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

The family were furious Hodge’s sentencing had been delayed, 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. 

Ella-Rose’s mother, Kim, is appealing to other families going through a similar experience to join their fight. 

“We need to band together, we need to get them to listen. 

“I am never going to stop fighting for my girl.” 

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.