A man has been arrested and charged with assaulting a Waipukurau father of three whose funeral was held today.
Mark McCutcheon, 34, was fatally stabbed after going to help a woman allegedly being beaten by a patched gang member outside the Sandford Arms Hotel in Ongaonga, Central Hawke's Bay, on Friday night.
Mr McCutcheon, who drove off after the incident, was found dead in his car in a paddock off State Highway 50 early the next morning.
The head of the investigation, Detective Senior Sergeant Dave de Lange of the Hastings CIB, said a 22 year-old Waipukurau man had been charged with Mr McCutcheon's assault and appeared in Hastings District Court today.
He was remanded until next week without plea and granted interim name suppression.
Further charges against him were likely, said Mr de Lange.
Police yesterday arrested a 26-year-old Waipawa man and charged him with assaulting a female at the hotel the same night.
The charge relates to a domestic dispute that police said Mr McCutcheon intervened in outside the hotel at about 10.30pm on Friday.
Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to the fatal stabbing.
Mr de Lange said it was obvious after police went to where Mr McCutcheon was found in his car that his injuries were not the result of a motor accident.
A police patrol went to the Sandford Arms on Friday night but those involved in the fatal assault had left, including Mr McCutcheon.
His car had "just run off the road with him at the wheel", Mr de Lange said.
While a patched Mongrel Mob member was involved in the domestic assault, the subsequent assault and stabbing of Mr McCutcheon was not gang-related, he said.
The man charged with assaulting Mr McCutcheon was described as a gang associate.
Mr McCutcheon was not a regular at the hotel and had called in for a drink and meal after work.
An accountant friend of the family, Nick Hume of Waipawa, said the Waipawa Town Hall had been packed for Mr McCutcheon's funeral today with other mourners waiting outside.
He described the funeral as a mixture of emotion and laughter - "Mark had a good sense of humour".
The family now wanted some space to put their lives back together, he said. The news of the arrests had not sunk in with family members who were coping with today's funeral.
Mr de Lange said it had been a complicated inquiry and police were grateful for the help and support of the Ongaonga and Tikokino rural communities.
