Man deported after fatal road rage attack

Photo / File

A judge has reserved his decision on the deportation of a Tuvalu man who was convicted of a fatal road rage attack.

Bio Talakatoa O'Brien was released from jail in April after a three year sentence for the manslaughter of 78-year-old Jasmatbhai Patel.

After their cars were involved in a minor collision, O'Brien dragged Mr Patel from his vehicle and attacked him.

Mr Patel fell onto concrete, hit his head, and died in Auckland Hospital the next day.

In the High Court in Wellington today his lawyer fought an Immigration Ministry deportation order for O'Brien to be sent back to Tuvalu, citing the wellbeing of his six-year-old daughter.

Justice Simon France said he would release his written findings as soon as possible.

At his sentencing in the High Court at Auckland in September 2009, Justice Judith Potter said the incident was an appalling act of road rage. "The assault was unprovoked and unjustified."

Mr Patel's family were devastated at the short length of the sentence.

"I'm not happy with three years but what can you do? That's the law in New Zealand," his son George Patel said after the sentencing.

The manslaughter wasn't O'Brien's first offence. In 2001 in Dunedin he was ordered to complete 150 hours' community service for threatening to kill and for assaulting a female.