Mewa Singh, left, pictured with his son Himanshu Keswher, granddaughter Riana and Singh’s wife Darshni Devi. Photo: Supplied / Stuff
On the day Himanshu Keshwer came home from hospital with his newborn daughter, his father was there to greet him.
Mewa Singh, 60, and his wife had flown halfway around the world from India to New Zealand for the birth of their second grandchild, and to support their son.
But within four months of proudly holding the newborn baby for the first time, Singh was dead - killed with a single punch by a man who mistakenly thought he was trying to abduct his son from a Christchurch skate park on April 7 last year.
Speaking exclusively to Stuff on Tuesday, Keshwer, 33, said the crime had turned his family's life on its head. After 14 years living in New Zealand, he'd had to sell his business and return home to India with his family so he could look after his grieving mother.
"When I left for work that day everything was good. My family was happy, [my father] was playing with my daughter and everything was good," Keshwer said.
The events that unfolded about three hours later "shook my life, shook everything".
Keshwer said his father was a kind and caring man, who would never harm anyone, let alone a child.
"He was a very good human being. He never took anything seriously and always tried to help people wherever possible."
Details of the senseless killing at Linwood Park were revealed for the first time by Stuff on Monday, after a 32-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last Friday in the High Court at Christchurch.
The man was scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Singh and his wife travelled to New Zealand in December 2022.
Keshwer, who owned an Indian restaurant in Linwood, said his parents were "really excited" about the birth of their second grandchild, and had offered to help when the baby was born.
"They were loving it," Keshwer said.
"In the morning [my father] used to go to all the churches and meet people, he made so many friends within those four months."
Keshwer returned home from work on the afternoon of 7 April last year and had lunch with his father.
"We were sitting there laughing, he was making jokes. He was very happy."
About 4.30pm Keshwer headed back to his restaurant.
Later, Singh, who was trying to stay fit, went for what had become a regular daily walk through Linwood Park. Usually, his wife went with him, but it was cold that evening, so she stayed home with her new granddaughter.
At Linwood Park Singh came upon a 7-year-old boy, a police summary of facts says.
The boy had refused to go home with his father, who'd left him there alone to teach him a lesson.
When the father returned, he saw an unknown man, later identified as Singh, holding his son's hand near a bus stop on Linwood Ave, and became "enraged", the summary of facts said.
As the father approached the bus stop he yelled "that's my f…ing son". He told Singh to get his hands off his son and shoved him.
The father then drove his son back to his ex-partner's house about 7.15pm.
He told her he had seen his son with an Indian man.
The boy told his father that Singh was "trying to walk him to daddy's car", the summary said. The man did not accept that, and said "f… this, I'm going back there to find him".
Singh was taken to Christchurch Hospital and was on life support with a skull fracture and internal bleeding after being punched in the jaw. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
At the park, he confronted Singh - grabbing him by his shirt collar and accusing him of trying to abduct his son.
After shoving Singh, the man delivered a "haymaker-style punch" to his jaw.
Singh fell backwards, and his head hit the pavement.
Keshwer learned his father had been critically injured when he received a call from a police officer about 9.30pm.
He rushed to Christchurch Hospital where his father was unconscious on life support with a skull fracture and internal bleeding.
"I couldn't actually think or do anything," Keshwer said, "I was totally in shock."
When he was told someone had attacked his father "I was broken".
Singh died two days later.
Keshwer said what happened was "totally unfair", and he was angry at his father's killer.
The last year had been "really hard," for his family.
Keshwer said he often broke down in tears when thinking about what had happened to his father.
"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."
- This story was first published by Stuff