Wellington: A 60-year-old Indian grandfather died after being punched at a Christchurch skate park in New Zealand after he was thought to be kidnapping a child. Mewa Singh and his wife had traveled from India in December 2022 to support their son and celebrate the birth of their second grandchild.
The 32-year-old attacker, who punched Singh he as was taking his usual walk through Linwood Park, pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter at the High Court in Christchurch. He will be sentenced for Singh's manslaughter in October 2024, according to news website Stuff.
On the day of the incident, the accused whose identity is concealed for legal reasons, had dropped his seven-year-old son at Linwood Park. When he returned, he saw Singh holding his son's hand and became enraged, assuming that the Indian was trying to kidnap the boy.
The man confronted Singh, shouting and shoving him before delivering a punch that caused Singh to fall and hit his head on the pavement. The victim's son, Himanshu Keshwer, 33, received a call from the police about his father's critical condition later that night.
"I couldn’t actually think or do anything. I was totally in shock," Keshwer told Stuff. Singh died from his injuries two days later in Christchurch Hospital. Keshwer shared the impact on their family, describing how their lives were turned upside down. "Someone killed my dad and I couldn’t do anything, and still can’t do anything. It makes me sad, it shouldn’t have happened," Keshwer was quoted as saying by Stuff.
Keshwer, who had been living in New Zealand for 14 years, had to sell his business and return to India to care for his mother. "My father was a very good human being. He never took anything seriously and always tried to help people wherever possible," the son said.
To support the grieving family, the New Zealand Sikh Society created a fundraising page to help them return to India and cope with their loss.
