The man who was critically injured while drinking in an Auckland park on Sunday was kicked in the head after taunting another man.
Semisi Sikei was drinking with friends in Dunkirk Reserve when an argument broke out between him and another man.
A police summary of facts presented to courton Monday says the two men were taunting each other with rival gang salutes when 39-year-old Lutovika Mokoi intervened.
Mokoi told Mr Sikei to stop antagonising the other man, and Mr Sikei challenged him to a fight.
The summary of facts says the two men started hitting each other and Mokoi struck Mr Sikei on the side of the head with his clenched fist.
Unconscious, Mr Sikei fell to the ground where Mokoi delivered "a series of frenzied kicks and stomps to the victim's unprotected head".
Witnesses say Mokoi left Mr Sikei on the ground and went back to a park bench where he continued drinking with the group of friends.
When first approached by police Mokoi, a Panmure bouncer, initially denied his role in the assault.
"He later partially admitted the facts as outlined, starting that he only kicked the victim once in the head and that it was just part of the fight," the police summary says.
He was charged with one count of assault, and yesterday appeared in the Auckland District Court for a bail hearing. He was remanded in custody.
Mr Sikei is in Auckland City Hospital in a critical but stable condition.
