By Peter de Graaf of RNZ
A disabled Northland man assaulted after asking an able-bodied driver not to use a disability car park is welcoming a sharp increase in fines for people who abuse mobility parking spaces.
Johnny Kauwhata was punched twice in the head outside Countdown Kerikeri by a man who had parked next to him in one of the supermarket's disability parks.
Kauwhata uses a tokotoko (walking stick) on good days and a walking frame on bad days.
The 33-year-old man had to re-learn how to walk after suffering a stroke and bacterial meningitis early last year. He still has difficulties with balance, dizziness and eating.
Kauwhata has a disability parking permit. He said he had finished his shopping about 5.45pm last Thursday when a man in his mid-20s parked in the mobility car park next to him.
"I politely asked him if he was disabled, and he admitted he wasn't. So I said, 'There's a lot of people that need to use this car park, can you park somewhere else?' And then he said, 'Or what?' It went south from there."
The other driver got out of his car and took off his shirt.
Kauwhata told the man part of his skull was missing since he'd had brain surgery, so any punch could be fatal, and walked away to his ute.
"I told him, to try to deescalate the situation, that I'd almost died, and this is the reason why I park in a disabled car park. And he said, 'Do you want me to finish you off?' I was very surprised at that point."
The driver followed Kauwhata to his ute and punched him on the temple and on the lip.
"I tried to headlock him and subdue him, but he slipped out - and then the public helped out heaps, they all jumped in and broke it up."
The man then got back in his car and took off, leaving his partner behind.
Countdown staff came out of the store and police arrived moments later.
Kauwhata did not seek medical treatment at the time, but was now having difficulty eating again. He said the incident proved he could protect himself to some extent, but it still made feel vulnerable.
"It could have been lights out."
He hoped more people would stand up to drivers who abused the use of disability parking spaces, and politely remind them of the hefty fine that awaited them.
Coincidentally, on the very day Kauwhata was assaulted, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston announced a major increase in fines for people who abuse mobility car parks - from the current $150 to $750 starting on October 1.
Kauwhata applauded the increase, saying he saw a lot of able-bodied drivers using car parks reserved for the disabled.
"Hopefully now it will lessen, and, if the best happens, maybe even put an end to it."
Wife Liz Kauwhata said she was hugely grateful to everyone who intervened to help her husband.
"It was a blessing that the public were there … but if it was the wrong kind of punch in the wrong place, it would've been a very different story."
The attack could also have the unfortunate effect of making people think twice about speaking up when they saw an injustice.
Liz Kauwhata said the driver was "obviously a very lucky man" who had no idea what it was like to be injured or disabled. She urged people considering taking a parking spot off the disabled to "just have some respect".
"Be whatever kind of person you want to be, but at least respect the elderly and the disabled as a bare minimum."
Disabled people who were unable to find a park could be forced to abandon their shopping and try again later, or do without food until their next attempt. That was especially tough for people for whom it was a major effort just to get out of the house.
She believed a $750 fine would be an "amazing deterrent."
"It's definitely justified. It could be even more, because there's just no excuse."
Police confirmed they were investigating an assault outside the supermarket on Thursday evening. Senior Sergeant Mark Barratt said the assault occurred after the victim asked the offender to move his vehicle from a disabled parking space.
Barratt said police were "following lines of inquiry".
CCS Disability Action, which administered the Mobility Parking Scheme for 170,000 people across the country, also welcomed the increased fines. The organisation said it had been lobbying for tougher penalties for many years to make Kiwis think twice about whether abusing the scheme was worth the risk.
About a third of people who parked in mobility spaces did not have permits, the organisation said.
The new fines, however, applied only in public areas - not to private car parks such as those operated by supermarkets and shopping centres, which make their own enforcement decisions.
A spokesperson for Woolworths NZ, which operates Countdown Kerikeri, said if an unauthorised vehicle was parked in a mobility park, a staff member would often make an in-store announcement asking the owner to move it.
"Further intervention is considered in the context of the potential reaction of the owner, as there have been instances where intervention has resulted in aggression towards our team. Unauthorised vehicles may be issued a breach notice but are not towed, nor clamped."
Supermarket car parks must provide mobility parking to comply with the Building Code.
