A police car blocked the entrance to the Countdown car park after the December 3 incident. (File photo)

Even though he found a parking space nearby, a young dad would not let it go that someone without a baby had used a parents' "pram" parking space at the supermarket.

The other driver was 55, and he had his mum - and her wheelchair - in the car. He'd taken the day off work to help her get to several appointments.

Stopped in a Lower Hutt supermarket car park, he was just minutes away from a death blow, a headbutt that knocked him out cold so that his fall backwards was unchecked, shattering his skull on the ground.

MATT TSO/STUFF Police say that in Lower Hutt parents' parks are private initiatives and no by-law stops anyone using them.

An off-duty emergency department doctor who was beside him within seconds could not save him.

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The victim, whose name was suppressed when the case of his attacker was called in the High Court on Monday, died the next day, December 4, in Wellington Hospital.

MATT TSO/STUFF Parking for the disabled is monitored and reserved for permit holders.

He had been on his way to get medication for his mother and lunch for them both.

The mobility parking permit showing through the windscreen was no help because the parks for the disabled were already taken.

But, unlike those regulated parks, police say there is no by-law that stops anyone else using the Lower Hutt parks with the pram markings.

Emilio Richard Mac Tanirau Whaanga, 23, didn't see it that way.

Still moving and looking for a park he paid special attention to the middle-aged man who, at his mother's suggestion, used the parents' park.

Tanirau Whaanga might already have been a bit cross. He, his partner, and their 1-year-old child were looking for nappies and the first supermarket they visited that morning had run out.

Closed circuit television cameras in the carpark captured Tanirau Whaanga stop, but in a line of cars near the parents' car park, opening his car door but then closing it again. He peered into the other car while stopping directly behind it.

Then a parking space opened up beside the disabled car parks in front of the supermarket entrance and Tanirau Whaanga nabbed it.

The victim made as if to get out of his car a couple of times but, for whatever reason, he hesitated.

Tanirau Whaanga was watching him, starting to move towards him but then stopping when the man didn't leave his car.

But then they were both out of their cars and walking, Tanirau Whaanga yelled out and the man stood while the younger man advanced.

The cameras caught Tanirau Whaanga pointing at the car, and the victim pointing at the disabled parks and his own car where his elderly mother was waiting.

The victim stepped back as Tanirau Whaanga moved in on him and they spoke briefly before Tanirau Whaanga changed his stance, held out his arms and headbutted the man fully in the head.

Tanirau Whaanga turned and with big strides he walked into the store, looking back only briefly at the victim on the ground.

Just two minutes later Tanirau Whaanga was out of the store, seeming to pay no attention - certainly not stopping - at the scene around the victim where the doctor and others were trying to save him.

He would have left the carpark but a taxi blocked his exit.

A member of the public told Tanirau Whaanga to stay where he was and he agreed, commenting that he had "flinched", it was an accident, that the victim "went at him" and that he did not mean to headbutt the victim.

Later he told police he had "flinched" and the victim walked into his head. He also said he thought the victim was going to attack him.

Police said he expressed concern for what happened but also for the impact it would have on his job prospects.

Tanirau Whaanga pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge and was remanded in custody to be sentenced in April.

At the time he headbutted the victim he was still serving a sentence of intensive supervision for an earlier attack in which he had stomped on the neck of a man laid out unconscious by a relative. The prone man's neck bore the pattern from the sole of Tanirau Whaanga's shoe.

Then too Tanirau Whaanga walked away, leaving his victim helpless.

Parental Parking Spaces

In Lower Hutt parent and child parks are private initiatives not managed by the council.

Hutt City Council spokeswoman Caryn Ellis said although the parks were regularly seen on private property such as Queensgate the council had no jurisdiction over them.

Parks on private property were enforced at the discretion of the property owner, she said.

Like many councils, Hutt City monitored mobility parks in partnership with CCS Disability Action which issued mobility park permits.

Queensgate Shopping Centre owner Stride Property confirmed no bylaw prevented general use of the parents' car parks.

Chief executive officer Phillip Littlewood said Stride strove to make a safe and welcoming environment, it was devastated by what happened, and its thoughts were with the victim's family.

CCS Disability Action regional facilities manager BK Clark said he'd heard of "too many" cases of people being abused for taking a disabled parking space, but this was the first abuse he had heard of for someone taking a parent park.