A father and son charged after an alleged fatal Father's Day assault of a man in Hastings have been granted interim name suppression.
The 61-year-old father entered no plea to a charge of assault with intent to injure In the Hastings District Court yesterday, while his 29-year-old son also entered no plea to one count of common assault.
A strong family presence sat in the public gallery to see the men appear in the dock one after the other during a court sitting for recent arrests in the early afternoon.
A Justice of the Peace granted them both bail after no opposition was offered from police.
The court ordered them not to associate with each other or drink alcohol while on bail.
Their lawyer, Matthew Phelps, successfully applied for interim name suppression which would apply until their next court appearance later this month.
Emergency services were called to a private address on Maraekakaho Road in Bridge Pa at 6.40pm on Sunday evening where a man had been found with serious head injuries.
He was initially taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital in a critical condition and then transferred to Wellington Regional Hospital close to midnight for "further specialist treatment". It is understood he died yesterday morning.
A Bridge Pa resident said she heard "yelling and screaming" the night the man was discovered seriously injured.
Soon after the incident, a police spokesperson said it appeared to have been a hit and run, but that has not been confirmed.
A police scene examination has been carried out in the past two days.
Detective Inspector Mike Foster said a post mortem was expected to be completed yesterday. Police had yet to release the deceased's name.