Road rage sparked fatal stabbing

BLAIR ENSOR, TOM HUNT AND PAUL EASTON

Police believe the fatal stabbing of a Lower Hutt man was likely sparked by road rage.

A post mortem has revealed father of two Aaron Anthony Hadfield died from a single stab wound to the chest when he was attacked in his car on Logie St, Stokes Valley, about 9pm on Thursday.

Two men, aged 20 and 22 years, handed themselves into the police and have been jointly charged with assault.

Further charges are pending.

Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Cooper of the Lower Hutt CIB said today police had finished a scene examination and Mr Hadfield's car was now being forensically examined.

Police were still looking for the knife used in the attack, which they believed had a blade around seven to 10 centimetres long, possibly with a wooden handle.

When asked whether police had established whether the accused knew the victim Cooper said, ''It's not looking that way. It's obviously early stages. Who knows what will come out of the wood-work.

''It does look like what we would class as a road rage incident ... It's a bit tragic really in that respect.''

Police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the stabbing, but would like to hear from anyone who may have seen two men in the George and Logie Streets area at the time of the attack.

One of the men was described as a 20-year-old Maori male, about 1.8m tall and of slim build. He was described as wearing a grey and white patterned hooded sweatshirt, black t-shirt and possibly brown shorts. He had dark hair, with a strip of dyed blonde hair down the middle.

The other was described as a 22-year-old, male, wearing a black baseball cap, shorts and a green 'Celtics' hooded sweatshirt with white cuffs around each sleeve.

On Friday nearby resident Jill Rua spoke of watching as a man reached into a car and stabbed Hadfield.

Moments earlier she had seen two young men walk up to the red car, yelling and screaming.

"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 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 Hadfield's chest.

"We tried to do our best. The guy was in a lot of pain, saying it was sore," 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.

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

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

A source told The Dominion Post 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."

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.

The two men charged 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.

- © Fairfax NZ News