KEY POINTS:
The widow of a Good Samaritan fatally stabbed while coming to the aid of a woman being beaten outside a rural pub has vowed to face the man accused of attacking him in court.
Mark McCutcheon, a 34-year-old father-of-three from central Hawke's Bay, was stabbed outside the Sandford Arms Tavern in sleepy Ongaonga nine days ago.
His widow Paula remains too distraught to talk, but family spokesman Nick Hume remained certain she would be in court when a 22-year-old gang associate appeared on Thursday to face a charge of assaulting her husband.
The accused has interim name suppression and police say more charges are likely.
Mark, a farming contractor known by friends as "Nipper" had been enjoying a family meal at the pub on the night he died.
His wife had left early to take their children, Millie, 7, Lucy, 4, and six-month-old Poppy to bed.
The devoted family man, known for his infectious grin, was found dead in his black ute in a paddock about 1km away, near State Highway 50.
Friends mounted a search party after Paula awoke in the early hours to find Mark was not beside her in bed and not answering his mobile, but he was not found until first light.
"Apparently he didn't even know he was stabbed," said one young farmer from the area. "He bled out on the way home. It's disgusting."
Police allege Mark made a fatal mistake by intervening in a domestic dispute between two gang associates and believe he was stabbed by another man.
A 26-year-old Mongrel Mob member from Waipawa has been charged with assaulting a woman and remanded in custody to reappear on Thursday.
Up to 20 family members joined police on Friday, combing the roadside for the murder weapon. A knife was found but its significance is not yet known.
Ironically Mark and Paula had bought the area's other watering hole, the Sawyers Arms.
Hume, the family's accountant and a close friend, said it was their dream to restore and run it as a family business.
Yesterday closed signs hung in the windows and tributes filled one room.
"They were going to turn it into something special," said Hume.
At least 800 relatives and friends packed into the Waipawa Town Hall on Wednesday to farewell Mark, speaking of a brave man who died a hero. According to friends, at the service Paula told Mark: "You didn't need to be a hero. You already were."
But Hume said Mark would not have hesitated to help outside the pub.
"He would have seen the situation and thought 'I'm not going to stand for that'.
"He's not a big guy but he's very willing to help people out in whatever way he can."
The tragedy was a triple blow for Mark's mother Ann, who lost her husband less than a year ago and a second adult son in a motorbike accident two years ago.
Hume described Paula as "resilient" and said she and the children were coping as well as could be expected.
"She's been through all the emotions. She's probably still in a bit of denial.
"What she really wants to do is put the kids before anyone else."
