Man dead after road rage stabbing

TOM HUNT, PAUL EASTON AND BLAIR ENSOR

Jill Rua a watched as a man reached into a car and stabbed a motorist to death.

Moments earlier she had seen two young men walk up to the red car, yelling and screaming, in Logie St, Stokes Valley, about 9pm on Thursday.

"One guy reached in and started punching him. I thought he was punching but he must have been stabbing."

The pair walked away while the stricken man parked his car.

"Then he got out, grabbed his chest and fell over on the grass."

As the attackers left, one of them yelled: "That's what you get if you f... with me."

Residents ran to help Aaron Anthony Hadfield, 27, who lay on the ground bleeding.

Hiripo Kepa, whose house looks over the crime scene, said he applied compression to the stab wounds in Mr Hadfield's chest.

"We tried to do our best. The guy was in a lot of pain, saying it was sore," Mr Kepa said. "We tried to keep him calm."

There was no ambulance so the victim was put into the back of a police car and rushed to hospital.

Mr Kepa stayed with Mr Hadfield in the car, applying pressure but he died in hospital.

"I feel bad because we thought ... he'd made it."

Two men, who handed themselves in to police, were charged with assault in connection with the stabbing.

The men, aged 20 and 22, were granted interim name suppression during a brief appearance at Lower Hutt District Court yesterday.

Family wept in the public gallery and the mother of one of the men yelled: "I love you son, you'll be all good baby."

Both were remanded in custody until next month.

A source told The Dominion Post Mr Hadfield had been returning with prescription medicine for his sick child when he came across his alleged attackers, stopped the vehicle and was stabbed.

"He was still talking. He asked the police to ring his wife and mother and father. He was going home."

But the mother of one of the accused believed her son had been involved in a road-rage incident.

"They were crossing the road, he [the victim] came screeching round the corner. They had to jump out of the road to avoid the car.

"The guy stopped and reversed up a bit and said, `What's your problem', and then my son went to see what he was talking about and that's when stuff happened."

When her son arrived home he told her he had been involved in a road-rage incident.

The woman said her son was a "good boy" who wanted to be a police officer. He was due to begin training to be a security guard on Monday.

"He's my baby. It's just not like him, it's not like him at all."

The accused's father said: "About 10 minutes before the incident he was happy. He was laughing. The last thing on his mind was getting into trouble."

Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Cooper of the Lower Hutt CIB said Mr Hadfield suffered multiple stab wounds in the chest that were beyond medical intervention.

Police were investigating any links between the victim and the accused, Mr Cooper said. They had yet to find a weapon.

Acting Lower Hutt area commander Inspector Mike Hill said police did not think the stabbing was a random attack.

"Something has happened immediately beforehand or preceding that. There has been some level of connection between these three people.

"We are working to identify what that connection might be."

Witnesses had told police they saw a man being stabbed through the car's window. But the investigation was still in its early stages and police had yet to piece together exactly what happened.

- © Fairfax NZ News