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Carrington Road intersection where alleged road rage incident occured on Tuesday, April 7 - Source: ONE News -
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The 78-year-old grandfather bashed during an alleged road rage incident in Auckland has died.
Jashmatbai Patel has been in Auckland Hospital following the bashing, on Tuesday morning.
A 27-year-old man, a student, was arrested following the incident. Police have named him as Bio O'Brien.
O'Brien appeared in the Auckland District court on Wednesday afternoon and entered no plea.
He entered the dock with his head lowered flanked by a police officer.
He faces one charge of assault but it's been indicated that could be upgraded to manslaughter.
Family were with Patel when he died at 1.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. He was described as a kind and considerate man, a widower for the past 15 years.
The attack was witnessed by a large crowd of intermediate school children at a bus stop.
Police say Patel was attacked, receiving serious head injured, after a "minor crash" between his van and a BMW on Carrington Road.
"It appears the driver of the BMW then alighted from his car and attacked the driver of the van, pulling him from his vehicle to continue the alleged assault," police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty says.
Dave Shadbolt, principal at nearby Gladstone Primary, says he saw an older man on the ground after discovering there had been an incident.
"There was just a lot of blood. His eyes were closed, he was just breathing heavily," he told the New Zealand Herald.
Police say they will investigate whether alcohol or drugs had been a factor.
O'Brien, who was born in Tuvalu but now lives in Waitakere, has been remanded in custody until Thursday so his lawyer can consult with police.
